As of this writing, Donald Trump has only tweeted about Puerto Rico four times since the United States territory was battered by a second devastating hurricane. Meanwhile, the president spent the long weekend — as well as Monday and Tuesday — tweeting repeatedly about his apparent feud with the NFL. Midday Tuesday, however, Trump finally announced that he would tour the “literally destroyed” island and increased cost sharing to 100 percent federal funding for any and all aid — even though a congressional package may take weeks. And when the president discussed the matter with reporters, things only got… weirder:
“The mayor of San Juan was very generous and very nice this morning. Was thanking us for the great job we’ve done with FEMA. We really have. We’ve worked very, very hard in Puerto Rico. It’s very tough because it’s an island. In Texas, we can ship the trucks right out there. We’ve gotten A pluses on Texas and on Florida, and we will also on Puerto Rico. But the difference is, this is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean, and it’s a big ocean. It’s a very big ocean. We’re doing a really good job.”
Trump reiterated his intent to visit Puerto Rico next Tuesday, as he and his staff do not want to “[disrupt] first responders and the efforts that are being made to help people.” He also claimed they had “shipped massive amounts of food and water and supplies” to the island, but the damage was already done. Twitter — and hopefully The President Show host Anthony Atamanuik — couldn’t quite grasp the president’s apparent sudden realization that Puerto Rico was an island surrounded by water.
Did Trump not realize Puerto Rico was an island until now? Is he just learning what an ocean is? pic.twitter.com/OFD3ZsaeOI
— deray (@deray) September 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/CillizzaCNN/status/912695026089635840
Puerto Rico "is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean. It’s a big ocean. It’s a very big ocean." — President Trump, 9/26/17
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) September 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/912704464926146561
The ocean is huge, salty too, like a taco shell, & trump towers has great tacos, & lines are so long to get in, like people have never seen. https://t.co/8Y2zAontD6
— dan haren (@ithrow88) September 26, 2017
Sadly, Atamanuik so far hasn’t taken notice of Trump’s latest “big” reference. Considering his impression’s adept use of a big rig truck, little girls who tell it like it is, and other various cringe-worthy situations not unlike an Onion headline, “big ocean” is bound to come up in one form or another.