June 1, 2018

Trump Is Still Bragging About the Government’s Handling of a Hurricane That Killed More Than 4,600 Americans

Chris Kleponis/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump has yet to comment on a devastating new study published by Harvard researchers this week estimating that 4,645 people died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria—more than 72 times what the Trump administration has officially acknowledged. The new death toll marks what may be the country’s deadliest natural disaster in 100 years.

But while Trump remains silent on the study, he’s still bragging about the government’s response. 

“Last season during the hurricanes—I was in Texas, I was in Florida, I was in Puerto Rico—I saw the work you did under the most adverse conditions,” Trump said at the change-of-command ceremony for the US Coast Guard on Friday. “I’ve said this to a lot of people: I don’t think any brand has gained more momentum or has gained more of anything than the brand of the United States Coast Guard.”

As my colleague Tim Murphy noted earlier this week, during the hurricane and its aftermath, Trump vacillated between blaming Puerto Rico for an “impossible situation” and demanding that the media shower praise on his emergency response efforts.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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