Trump says Puerto Rico hurricane response was a '10' but these numbers prove otherwise
President Trump gave the federal response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico a 10 out of 10 on Thursday.
Yes. Really. He gave himself the highest marks for what has been a well-documented and tragic mess.
He said this, and other objectively inaccurate statements about the U.S. territory, with a straight face while sitting next to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló at the White House Thursday.
Here's his full answer to the reporter's question:
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In no world is the U.S. government's response to the natural disaster perfect. Far from it.
Based solely on basic statistics from the Puerto Rican government -- in the words of the governor -- "a lot still has to be done."
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As of Thursday -- nearly a month after Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island nation as a Category 4 storm -- these are just some of the grim statistics:
Only 21.6 percent of Puerto Rico has power.
71.58 percent has access to drinking water, but this varies greatly by region. Northern Puerto Rico, for example, has just 37 percent.
Just 25.07 percent of cellphone antennas and 46.57 percent of cell towers are back in operation
The situation is so dire in some communities that some Puerto Ricans -- who are American citizens -- have resorted to drinking from contaminated water sources, including Superfund sites containing extremely hazardous substances.
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Those are not 10 out of 10 numbers.
Topics Donald Trump Politics
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.