President Trump Dedicates Golf Trophy To Hurricane Victims

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Despite receiving extensive criticism for his administration's response to Hurricane Maria's complete destruction of vital infrastructure in Puerto Rico, President Trump dedicated the trophy at the President's Cup golf tournament on Sunday to the victims of the season's recent storms.

"On behalf of all of the people of Texas," Trump said, "and ... if you look today and you see what's happening, how horrible it is, but we have it under really great control, Puerto Rico. And the people of Florida who have really suffered over this last period of time with the hurricanes..."

"I want to just remember them," he continued, "and we're going to dedicate this trophy to all those people who went through so much, that we love, that are part of our great state, really, a part of our great nation."

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Reporters on the scene said that someone in the crowd yelled, "You don't give a s--- about Puerto Rico!" during the trophy ceremony.

Critics blasted Trump's choice to leave Washington, D.C., over the weekend to go to his golf course in Bedminster and then the tournament, given that millions of Puerto Ricans are still struggling daily to obtain food, water and electricity. Many say that the federal response has been too slow, poorly managed and insufficient. More than a week into the response effort, many Puerto Ricans said they hadn't even seen any federal aid workers yet.

"Maybe I'm blinded by my anger but the dedication of a golf trophy to people suffering strikes me as very 'let them eat cake,'" tweeted Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii on Sunday.

Trump and the administration have repeatedly dismissed these criticisms. They say that FEMA is doing as much as can be expected given the circumstances, and Trump has implied that criticisms of his leadership demean the work of the first responders.

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Photo by Elsa/Getty Images