Tuesday, September 26, 2017

"Trump's Puerto Rico Tweets Prove That Wall Street Is Deep In His Head"

But how far up his ass is his head?
President Donald Trump's first priority when it comes to Puerto Rico is reminding it of all the debt it owes Wall Street.

This is rich, considering how much Trump loves debt and bankruptcy.

Puerto Rico's debt problems have a long history involving several government missteps.
Reading tweets from President Donald Trump has become less an exercise in policy and more a glimpse at what or who is driving the information the impressionable president is taking in.*

That is how we know, based on three tweets on Monday evening about Puerto Rico, that Wall Street owns Trump right now.

Here are the tweets, in case you missed them:

"Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble.

"It's old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars ... owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities — and doing well. #FEMA"

You'll notice the "top priorities" were mentioned only after the president pointed out Puerto Rico's massive debt, which is owned by a bunch of investors — especially the powerful hedge funds Trump bashed during his campaign.

There are some other non-debt problems Puerto Rico is facing that the president didn't mention:
  • Puerto Rico's agriculture secretary, Carlos Flores Ortega, says Hurricane Maria destroyed as much as 80% of the territory's crop value.
  • The Fitch research group BMI estimates the country's gross domestic product will take a 3.5% hit in 2017 and a 2.1% hit in 2018.
  • The catastrophe-modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates up to $85 billion in insured damage, to say nothing of uninsured damage.
Trump opted not to tweet about those disastrous humanitarian and economic situations, but the hedge funds, jockeying for a piece of the $70 billion in debt the territory owes, got a shout-out. It seems Wall Street's priorities are at the top of the president's mind right now.
Mind? Who are you trying to kid?
*Impressionable, as in total chump.

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