Trump lies about the death toll in Puerto Rico and then blames Democrats

Republicans do nothing to keep Trump in check except mild comments.

I’m sick of the lies. This was one of the worst.

Of all Trump‘s 4713 lies, this is perhaps the ugliest. The Talmud says that when you save a single life, it is like saving an entire world. Trump just erased 2982 worlds. https://t.co/PiJJZmHWA0

— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) September 13, 2018

Paul Ryan is now using Trump's "it's an island!" defence: https://t.co/AaQPjHWL13

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 13, 2018

.@mattgertz has conclusively demonstrated that the answer to "why is the president tweeting about THAT this morning" is almost always "because he's responding to his television." https://t.co/tB0mTTy86d

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 13, 2018

Trump has been lying about Puerto Rico from the start to make himself look better. A recap of false things he has said:

1) "It actually touched down as a Category 5. People have never seen anything like that." (It touched down as a Category 4. People have seen Category 5s.)

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 13, 2018

Paul Ryan claims that the deaths in Puerto Rico were “no one’s fault.” But most of the deaths were due to the federal government’s failed response to the hurricane. That *is* Trump’s fault. https://t.co/ueu18jTKg7

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 13, 2018

This is grossly misleading. The best estimate is that 3,000 died b/c of Maria. That many if not most of those deaths occurred well after the storm is an indictment of federal/local response. Thousands were without power FOR MONTHS. People died w/o access to basic services. /1 https://t.co/WnbX7qNGeg

— John D. Sutter (@jdsutter) September 13, 2018

In a normal government there would be a commission investigating the Puerto Rico response for months already and hauling administration officials to testify how the president got this information https://t.co/Rju4fCWXU9

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) September 13, 2018

When the facts are inconvenient, attack the facts. https://t.co/XQBz5bstY3

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 13, 2018

Trump says Dems manufactured the 3,000 death toll from the hurricane in Puerto Rico last year “to make me look bad.” For those who ask if he really believes this, the answer is yes. https://t.co/N3wJPZianj

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 13, 2018

For over a year, Trump has insisted the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria has been getting “great marks.” That’s true: It’s been getting great marks from the president himself, and almost no one else. https://t.co/LfGCPxivy1 pic.twitter.com/KTnUaraZnp

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) September 13, 2018

Innovations in presidenting https://t.co/3msgTRRNEV

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) September 13, 2018

I didn't think he could make this worse than his 1st tweet

But he did! https://t.co/OJqCsCEZqP

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 13, 2018

The idea that the huge death toll on Puerto Rico is "really no one's fault" rather than an urgent question for Congress to investigate through oversight is the perfect encapsulation of @SpeakerRyan utter abandonment of oversight role & any effort to hold Trump accountable https://t.co/AyndrkWuxi

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) September 13, 2018

Lindsey Graham tells us that Trump views every slight as “undercutting his legitimacy,” which is why he can’t admit mistakes like in Puerto Rico. He says that it shouldn’t be hard to acknowledge some mistakes were made.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 13, 2018

Why Trump’s tweets are Puerto Rico are untrue

Just blame everyone else for your lies:

New White House response to Puerto Rico deaths from hurricane and why @realDonaldTrump tweeted on this today stirring new controversy pic.twitter.com/mVCpJKUVkO

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) September 13, 2018

Amartya Sen famously argued that preventable mass-fatality natural disasters don't happen in a well-functioning democracy. Political feedback loops of free press+free elections make this too costly to people in power. The extent of our polarization is frightening in this context. https://t.co/ocNmSxZk0l

— Harold Pollack (@haroldpollack) September 14, 2018

Refusing to endorse an unsupported conspiracy theory = disloyalty https://t.co/O7DQTsdcWg

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) September 18, 2018

Climate change has made hurricanes worse

and your president thinks climate change is a Chinese hoax. Sad!

Nine of the 10 costliest hurricanes to hit the US mainland since 1900 have been in the last two decades. Here's a look at how coastal development and climate change are making hurricanes more costly. https://t.co/hJcJhJIeSE pic.twitter.com/JJqsQNpU4q

— CNN (@CNN) September 12, 2018

Opinion: As Hurricane Florence closes in on the East Coast, the Trump administration’s reversal on U.S. climate policy has made the situation all the more dire. https://t.co/HYHWB04QRd

— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) September 11, 2018

Just now: The first-ever pre-event attribution study has been published.

Compared to a world w/o climate change:

– Florence will have 50% heavier rainfall
– 50mi wider at landfall, boosting storm surge

Climate change is making #HurricaneFlorence worse.https://t.co/VQQAotPCWu pic.twitter.com/zl26mW29CQ

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 12, 2018

Climate change has increased the vulnerability of North Carolina’s low-lying eastern plain, expanding the size and water mass of hurricanes by as much as 50%. https://t.co/2W1XIjJLcN

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) September 18, 2018

The other side:

Rush Limbaugh on Hurricane Florence: "The forecast and the destruction potential doom and gloom is all to heighten the belief in climate change." https://t.co/YvwZm8vTO5

— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 12, 2018

Trump lies to Gold Star families

Trump lies to Gold Star families.

Woodward reports that Trump lies in phone calls with Gold Star families about what their dead loved-ones did in the military. #Fear pic.twitter.com/lLSFqvBo8c

— Max de Haldevang (@MddeH) September 11, 2018

Increase in uninsured Americans

Thanks to the Republicans.

Change in # of uninsured Americans from previous year –>

2014: -8.8 million
2015: -4 million
2016: -900K
2017: +492K

Today via Censushttps://t.co/Pc8lqsbG6F pic.twitter.com/0pzLnNKy1V

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) September 12, 2018

New Census data continues to show the historic progress in reducing the number of people uninsured has stalled. In a different environment, we might be having a debate about how to change that. https://t.co/zSCVv2m6Va

— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) September 12, 2018

2018 election update 9/12/18

Blue wave > Red wavehttps://t.co/Z7hTFCBElS

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 11, 2018

Very good story. The Senate could tilt a lot of ways on very narrow margins. But the GOP's worries are revealing. https://t.co/VqbyER22Eg

— EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) September 12, 2018

And in mid-term elections since 92, per exits, 83-89% of disapprovers have voted against the president's party in House races while 82-87% of approvers (except in one case) voted for the party's party. It is the single most powerful measure. https://t.co/vloP9JlVTb

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) September 12, 2018

Analysis | As mid-terms draw near, Trump’s numbers with independents should worry Republicans https://t.co/YNDiJZ3vpg by @Eugene_Scott

— bitchthattrump (@bitchthattrump) September 12, 2018

CNN’s Chris Cillizza explains how a combination of toss-ups and Democrat-leaning seats might give the party a road to victory in the House pic.twitter.com/dvBE0ZkcMa

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 11, 2018

Trump lies about Puerto Rico

Trump lied and said the government did a great job in Puerto Rico. Even GAO said they didn’t. Sure, it was harder because of the electric problems and because it was an island but that’s no excuse. Trump did not say one word about the almost 3,000 Americans who died because of the hurricane. He has no empathy, only anger and hatred.

This is simply not true. Death toll in Puerto Rico was near 3,000, basically same as 9/11. GAO ripped FEMA response: https://t.co/VPzOKkRvzl https://t.co/24E5RPHxc0

— Paul Farhi (@farhip) September 12, 2018

Trump is bragging about his handling of Puerto Rico.

3,000 people DIED. What an awful human being.

— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) September 11, 2018

The current death toll for Puerto Rico – revised upward from 64 initially – is now estimated at roughly the same as those on Sept. 11, 2001. https://t.co/JsptEzlubE

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 11, 2018

Trump just told reporters that the admin's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was "incredibly successful." He continues, "it was an incredible, unsung success."

Puerto Rico just changed the death toll from Maria from 64 to 2,975.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 11, 2018

Koch Brothers will spend up to $400 million on the 2018 elections

The Koch brothers plan to spend up to $400 million on the 2018 elections.

This is legal but it shouldn’t be – nobody should be able to buy that much influence.

The only way we can get big money out of the elections is to get the Supreme Court Citizens United decision overturned.

Daily Kos and Breitbart coverage of new Koch PAC. pic.twitter.com/UZgsCO00Hp

— Dean Eckles (@deaneckles) September 11, 2018

At least they lost on donor secrecy.

The Kochs, along with the right wing of the American oligarchy they represent, have advanced two fundamental ideas about liberty over the years, both of which violate basic civic republican principles. https://t.co/8CAEAuWC7D pic.twitter.com/53Ll5zc0O2

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) August 24, 2018

Almost half the country supports impeachment

Impeachment will fail in the Senate. Not enough Republicans would vote to convict, no matter how much evidence there is that Trump should be removed.

I want indictments, even if we have to wait until 1/20/21. If Cohen committed crimes with the payoffs, didn’t Trump commit them too?

WaPo/ABC poll has support for Trump impeachment at 49%. New CNN poll out today has it at 47%. Dem leaders not embracing impeachment in the campaign, GOP using impeachment threat to rile up their base. Beyond the politics,, about half of US voters want Trump removed from office.

— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) September 12, 2018

The Trump Tower meeting – follow the money

Docs reviewed by BuzzFeed reveal a previously undisclosed aspect of the Trump Tower meeting: a complex web of financial transactions among some planners and participants.

Investigators are focused on banking activity after the meeting and the election.https://t.co/U6gLUuaezj

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 12, 2018

The notorious Trump Tower meeting in June 2016, where members of the Trump campaign met with Russians in the hopes of getting damaging information on Hillary Clinton, was trailed by suspicious Russian money transfers. https://t.co/8vp9PwSN7D pic.twitter.com/BqWWRUpGGO

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) September 12, 2018

Trump lies update from Daniel Dale

Daniel Dale from the Toronto Star does a great job tracking Trump’s lies. It’s getting worse!

Here's the chart of Trump's false claims by month. It's been bad since mid-2017, but the last three months have been by far the worst. pic.twitter.com/jTJgPQMEp0

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 12, 2018

My favourite Trump lie from the last week of August was his claim, at an official event, that the lake beside his Charlotte golf course is the "largest man-made lake in the world, by far."

The largest man-made lake in the United States is 25 times larger. pic.twitter.com/cbcBQQW0yp

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 12, 2018

Trump false claims in the last week of August:
– 20 in Bloomberg interview
– 17 at Indiana campaign rally
– 13 at NC GOP fundraiser
– 10 on Twitter
– 9 at NC speech "on retirement security"https://t.co/t2bnPJQqIV

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 12, 2018