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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fact Checks Donald Trump's Claim That He Is 'the Best Thing to Happen to Puerto Rico'

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fact Checks Donald Trump's Claim That He Is 'the Best Thing to Happen to Puerto Rico'
President Donald Trump and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (National Archives)

It's been nearly two years since President Donald Trump's bungled visit to the American territory of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island. Trump infamously threw paper towel rolls into a crowd of residents affected by Maria, and told them the hurricane wasn't as bad as Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Trump claimed at the time that only 16 people died in Maria's wake, but later reports confirmed that the official death toll was actually over 3,000—the third deadliest hurricane in American history. Many of these were attributed to lack of power and federal aid to the territory, largely due to inaction on the part of the Trump administration.


This week, as a new threat—Hurricane Dorian—approached Puerto Rico, President Donald Trump chastised the United States territory for being in Dorian's path.

He continued to call the island "one of the most corrupt places on earth," before astonishingly claiming that he's "the best thing that's ever happened to Puerto Rico!"

It wasn't long before freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), herself of Puerto Rican descent, clapped back with a savage read.

Ocasio-Cortez not only reminded him of the 3,000 Americans on the island who died, but also told him he's not the best thing to happen to anyone but himself. "And even that's questionable."

Fortunately, Puerto Rico endured Hurricane Dorian with nowhere near the catastrophic level of destruction imposed by Maria.

The fallout from Trump's irreverence for Puerto Rico's residents continues, with Ocasio-Cortez being one of many voices against him. Among them: San Juan, Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.

Dorian is now barreling towards Florida.

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