--- title: President Trump's Awkward Comment on Puerto Rico description: President Trump's commitment to the recovery of Puerto Rico was in question after he said federal resources wouldn't be there forever. canonical: https://time.com/4979705/president-trumps-awkward-comment-on-puerto-rico/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-12T17:35:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:50:23.059Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump's Awkward Comment on Puerto Rico og:description: President Trump's commitment to the recovery of Puerto Rico was in question after he said federal resources wouldn't be there forever. og:url: https://time.com/4979705/president-trumps-awkward-comment-on-puerto-rico/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump's Awkward Comment on Puerto Rico twitter:description: President Trump's commitment to the recovery of Puerto Rico was in question after he said federal resources wouldn't be there forever. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Awkward Comment on Puerto Rico > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 12, 2017 5:35 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 12, 2017 5:35 PM UTC President Trump raised new questions about his Administration’s commitment to the response and recovery of Puerto Rico Thursday, when he highlighted the island’s trouble fiscal conditions and stated that federal resources wouldn’t be in place permanently. “We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!” Trump tweeted. The comments were undoubtedly accurate, but tonally they appeared to many to be off base — particularly with more than 80% of the territory still without power three weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall. It is the latest wrinkle in Trump’s difficult embrace of the role of comforter-in-chief, as he has often been slow to show empathy in the wake of disasters. Trump also inflamed his war against the news media, as he suggested that media licenses be revoked over news coverage he doesn’t like. The factual questions about plausibility aside, Trump’s broadside against one of the core Constitutional protections was striking. “Mr. President: Are you recanting of the Oath you took on Jan. 20 to preserve, protect, and defend the 1st Amendment?” tweeted Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a frequent Administration critic. The fight over free speech on campus. Reading the NAFTA tea-leaves. And FEMA defends its hurricane response. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [Trump Unleashes Himself From Would-Be Handlers ](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-kelly-20171010-story.html)Lashing out mornings, nights and weekends \[LA Times\] [The Fight Over Free Speech on Campus Isn’t Just About Free Speech ](http://time.com/4979235/the-campus-culture-wars/)A fundamental conflict on campuses across the country \[TIME\] [Trump’s Tough Talk on Nafta Suggests Pact’s Demise Is Imminent ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/business/economy/nafta-trump.html?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=newsletter%5Faxiosam&stream=top-stories)Would have far-reaching economic implications \[New York Times\] [Trump Escalates Threats Against Press, Calls News Coverage ‘Frankly Disgusting’ ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-escalates-threats-against-press-calls-news-coverage-frankly-disgusting/2017/10/11/32996dba-ae9c-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98%5Fstory.html?stream=top-stories&utm%5Fcampaign=newsletter%5Faxiosam&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fterm=.eae1cb5c0e86)Questions First Amendment freedoms \[Washington Post\] [President’s Lawyers May Offer Mueller a Meeting With Trump ](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/12/trump-mueller-meeting-russia-243692)Looking to speed Mueller’s Russia probe and show openness, the president’s legal team might soon volunteer a chance for the special counsel to interview Trump \[Politico\] **Sound Off** “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!” — President Trump on Twitter Thursday “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write.” — Trump to reporters Wednesday **Bits and Bites** [FEMA Chief Defends Hurricane Response](http://time.com/4978461/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-fema-head/) \[TIME\] [President Trump Mused About Revoking NBC’s License. Republicans in Congress Cheered](http://time.com/4977863/donald-trump-nbc-license-republicans/) \[TIME\] [Joe Biden Condemns Harvey Weinstein For ‘Disgusting, Immoral’ Misconduct](http://time.com/4979052/joe-biden-harvey-weinstein-allegations/) \[TIME\] [How a president’s foreign trip comes together](https://www.yahoo.com/news/presidents-foreign-trip-comes-together-210745809.html?soc%5Fsrc=community&soc%5Ftrk=tw) \[Yahoo\] [‘He hit the ball on the screws’: Sen. 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Not anymore.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pro-sports-teams-were-once-reliable-patrons-of-trumps-hotels-not-anymore/2017/10/11/113ceb8a-a47c-11e7-ade1-76d061d56efa%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.9bcb744e8cc0) \[Washington Post\] [President Trump Claims His Tax Plan Would Give Most Americans ‘a $4,000 Pay Raise’](http://time.com/4978945/donald-trump-tax-plan-truckers-pay-raise/) \[Associated Press\] [‘He threw a fit’: Trump’s anger over Iran deal forced aides to scramble for a compromise](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/he-threw-a-fit-trumps-anger-over-iran-deal-forced-aides-to-scramble-for-a-compromise/2017/10/11/6218174c-ae94-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.0c93ffcf1d3f) \[Washington Post\] [President Trump Will Nominate White House Aide Kirstjen Nielsen as Secretary of Homeland Security](http://time.com/4978250/donald-trump-kirstjen-nielsen-homeland-security/) \[Associated Press\] [President Trump Says ‘Partisan’ Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked](http://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/) \[TIME\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4979705/president-trumps-awkward-comment-on-puerto-rico/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4979705/president-trumps-awkward-comment-on-puerto-rico/"},"headline":"President Trump's Awkward Comment on Puerto Rico","datePublished":"2017-10-12T17:35:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:50:23.059Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: October 12","url":"https://time.com/4979705/president-trumps-awkward-comment-on-puerto-rico/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4979705/president-trumps-awkward-comment-on-puerto-rico/","name":"President Trump's Awkward Comment on Puerto Rico"}}]}] ```