With Hurricane Florence about to deliver a “Mike Tyson punch” to the Carolinas in what is being forecast as potentially the strongest hurricane to strike the East Coast in decades, many people are being reminded of the fact that, nearly a year after Hurricane Maria, parts of Puerto Rico still don’t have power. Compounding the situation are photos that went viral this week of millions of bottles of water FEMA that delivered in the aftermath of the disaster, that somehow never left an airport runway in Ceiba with the island’s death toll currently estimated at around 3,000.
Naturally, President Donald Trump does not enjoy being reminded of his administration’s shortcomings, so on Thursday morning, he attempted to gaslight the American people on Twitter by lying about the number of people who lost their lives due to Hurricane Maria.
“3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths,” Trump tweeted, of his paper towel-tossing visit. “As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…”
He followed that up with a tweet inexplicably suggesting natural deaths such as “old age” threw off the statistics, once again blaming Democrats.
3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
…..This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
Now, many realize that lies come to Trump as naturally as breathing air, but to suggest that the deaths of three thousand Americans were simply the work of a Democrat conspiracy to make him look bad is next level. Some might even say it’s his worst, most disgusting tweet ever! Which would almost be impressive, in his long history of bad, disgusting tweets.
Really, there’s only one way to know for sure, which would be to look back on some of Trump’s greatest hits, you could say.
For starters, the guy is clearly on a roll this week, as he commemorated the 17th anniversary of 9/11, a tragedy with the jaunty, exclamation-pointed tweet, “17 years since September 11th!” To assume that would be Trump’s worst 9/11 tweet would be wrong, however. One can’t take that honor away from his September 11, 2013 tweet in which he put aside petty differences to extend his best wishes to all of the “haters and losers” on such a “special” day.
“@realDonaldTrump: I would like to extend my best wishes to all, even the haters and losers, on this special date, September 11th.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2013
Then there was the first time he attacked the United States of America’s system of checks and balances as president, by undermining the credibility of the federal judge who struck down his unconstitutional travel ban.
The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017
And then there were the Obama wiretap tweets, which he clearly made up out of thin air, but then later insisted that an official congressional investigation be conducted.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Back in 2013, actress Kristen Stewart was caught cheating on then-boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders. It became quite the scandal after photos of the two surfaced, and for some reason Trump decided to insert himself into drama by calling Stewart a “dog” — one of his favorite insults.
Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again–just watch. He can do much better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2012
And who can forget the time he suggested that there was foul play in the plane crash death of the Hawaiian health director who approved Obama’s birth certificate?
How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama’s “birth certificate” died in plane crash today. All others lived
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2013
Shortly after winning the 2016 election, butt hurt over losing the popular vote, Trump claimed completely without merit that “millions of people” voted illegally, which undermines literally everything our democracy was founded on.
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Perhaps as a tease as what would eventually become his vendetta against freedom of speech, that month president-elect Trump also suggested that people should go to jail or lose their citizenship for burning the American flag.
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
Speaking of which, there were these tweets that kicked off his obsession (no pun intended) with black NFL players kneeling for the National Anthem.
If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
…our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
With so many bad tweets, honestly who can say which is the worst of all time. As long as Trump doesn’t survive the presidency long enough to ban books, historians will certainly be writing about it someday.