Puerto Rico Death Toll Update: 2,975

[_EAllusion]

The upshot here is that the hurricane devastation in Puerto Rico is a criminally underreported story and that's probably about to change thanks to the very stable genius in office. There also should be Congressional investigations into what the hell happened with the Federal government's response that the party of endless Benghazi is deliberately killing. This can only increase the odds that inquiry happens on the chance Democrats take the House.

[_EAllusion]

Come to think of it, the basis for endless Congressional investigations of Benghazi! was the allegation that the executive branch may have deliberately pushed a false narrative regarding what happened and the governments' role for political purposes.

This is basically the same thing, only it definitely happened and involved many more deaths of Americans. So, you know, much worse. I'm sure Republicans will get right on those investigations. Exhibit A is the president tweeted it out.

[_EAllusion]

He's saying that every time someone died of old age in Puerto Rico this year, the Democrats would add that person to the death toll. I'm certain he didn't just come up with this theory on his own. I wonder who fed it to him, either Alex Jones or Sean Hannity probably.

This is too out there for Hannity. Though, now that the President said it, Hannity is going to have to get on the air and find a way to defend it so trained seals like Ajax can bark and clap.

This is like Alex Jones' Sandy Hook conspiracy, but with hurricanes. I'd think that would've seeped into mainstream coverage if he was out in front of that one though. I'm going with this is Trump coming up with a crazy conspiracy all by himself that is now going to take on its own life because people are awful.

[_Some Schmo]

Not even surprising anymore...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... dterms-gop

That Drumpf's approval rating is hovering in the high 30's is a testament to how effective right wing propaganda really is. His approval rating would be in the single digits if everyone was focused on facts.

I laugh every time I hear a Drumpf voter say, "No Russian told me who to vote for." Of course not. It wouldn't be effective propaganda if you recognized it for what it is.

[_Kevin Graham]

Don't worry about the coming floods South Carolina, your Lord and Savior is here for you.

[_MeDotOrg]

It appears in the painting above that Trump's feet are below the surface, and that he is not walking on water. Typical fake news, Kevin.

[_Kevin Graham]

[_Some Schmo]

This is photographic evidence for why you should never play in a Chuck E Cheese ball pit. Who knows who else has been in it?

[_Xenophon]

This is too out there for Hannity. Though, now that the President said it, Hannity is going to have to get on the air and find a way to defend it so trained seals like Ajax can bark and clap.

I don't know how Hannity handled it but I caught Levin's hot-take on the topic. He essentially just ignored the fact Trump suggested the number was made up and presented two arguments:

• We don't know precisely how each individual died so it is unfair to blame ANY of the deaths on the President and the aide provided.
• Why do we even blame President Trump for this? Name one time Obama took blame for something (I crap you not).

He is right, even though we have ample evidence the disaster response was bungled:

• from delaying the relaxing of shipping laws
• slow to manifest spending packages (especially compared to Harvey responses)
• providing the contract for utility repairs to a company ill prepared for the scope of the project
• having a FEMA group under funded

It would be unfair to blame the administration for anything. Also Obama was never blamed for anything especially that wasn't his fault... you know besides ISIS, Benghazi, the Crimea takeover, the Recession, or even Katrina to name a few.

I'm a bit confused by the second argument in particular. Is not the President the highest office in the land, the place where final accountability lies? How did we get from "the buck stops here" to the highly cited Shaggy defense? I know that we are dealing with a veritable man-child here but do the talking heads honestly need to affirm his desire to not be blamed for stuff that happens on his watch? It is especially ironic how much blame shifting the President wants to do given how eager he is to take credit for "one of the best jobs that’s ever been with respect to what this is all about".

[_EAllusion]

I haven't seen Hannity on this yet if he choose to lean into it rather than ignore it. I did see Lou Dobbs give it the old college try in a clip.

His approach was to reduce Trump's tweets into mere skepticism that the 3000 number was right (he's right to question...), scoff at the methodology used to arrive at the number, suggest that death toll estimates are ridiculous voodoo, and suggest that it's only accepted by the Puerto Rican leadership because of a leftwing desire to hurt Trump.

He then attacked Scott and DeSantis for getting off the Trump Train and accepting the numbers, which made me smirk.