I have a hard time mustering any sympathy for PR, especially after all the ingratitude during our last round of disaster relief. That mouthy mayor standing in a warehouse full of supplies, screeching about how they weren't getting any supplies? And then, lo and behold, it comes to light that, unsurprisingly, she, the governor and all their cronies were stockpiling and selling the donations.
Frankly, I don't see another national outpouring of concern, money and supplies from the US to PR any time soon. Besides, we still have our hands full helping the Bahamas. And the hundred other countries in line to see what they can beg off Uncle Sam. Call me all the names you want, but you know it is very likely that's how it's going to play out. Blue-collar Joe and Jane ain't gonna give a dime to that island. Trump will be damned if he does and damned if he don't, just like last time.
They've been playing both sides of the US/not US thing for so long, our patience was already thin to begin with. (For those unfamiliar: PR is a US territory, which means they get most of the benefits of US citizenship, except their votes only count in local politics, and they don't pay income tax, while at the same time they pretend to be their own country, with all the third-world corruption being a Latino country entails. For the politicians, it's the best of both worlds, for the rest, not so much. Except the people who rob the tourists. They love it as much as the politicians because they never go to jail either.)
There was some separatist group of Puerto Riquenos that tried to blow up Congress in D.C in the 70's. More people remember that little bout of terrorism than ole Dizzy Lizzy Warren would like to believe. I see her as being at the forefront of the screeching contingent on this issue, just as she is on every other issue, apparently.
A lot of Americans are going to ignore PR as best they can for as long as they can, and then maybe throw them a few scraps, that's it. Sure, the lefties will wail and moan and tell us how "mean", "heartless" and "racist" we are, but they do that every day anyways, so big whoop. If I had to guess, we'll probably be sending our spare cash to Australia. Koala bears and farmers engender more sympathy than pick-pockets and poisonous frogs.