Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign Wednesday after days of deafening protests roiled San Juan.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1237497
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1237497
Huh. Massive protests over a period of time have forced an elected politician to get out of town. How exactly does that work?
Puerto Ricans, who are also Americans as folks need to be reminded elsewhere, have bested their counterparts on the mainland. But yet, all I still see is caterwauling on social media and endless hand-wringing about the “death of democracy” and such.
If this country didn’t hate Latinos so much, they’d be inspired to demand the fucking criminal imbecile shitting in the Oval Office to also vacate. Alas…
3 Likes
You think the reaction against Rossello was bad? Give Boris Johnson about two weeks!
3 Likes
Good riddance to this asshole.
He’s getting exactly what he deserves.
Remember how he cozied up to trump after PR was hit by the hurricane? Oh I sure as hell do. This asshole is getting his just desserts.
Still trying to figure out why he went on FOX when that station isn’t even aired there.
And whoever leaked the homophobic, sexist texts is a hero.
4 Likes
Hmmm…no wonder Cheatolini hates Puerto Rico so much.
They actually realize they are a DEMOCRACY and USE THEIR POWER to remove arrogant assholes from office.
Unlike on the mainland where we are more concerned with who is fucking who in Hollywood and whether your Android Phone is “way cooler” than my “iPhone XR”, and “ooooh! Look what this idiot said on Facebook today!!!”
We have met the enemy, and he is US.
7 Likes
You know what’s the worst thing about this? I am not for a minute defending the despicable comments shared in discussions they thought were private. But A.) there’s no one in a position to take the governor’s place who is not worse. and B.) this act of resigning will not alter by one iota the real issues that were at the root of the prostests in Puerto Rico: PROMESA and the Fiscal Control Board which removed the ability of this governor to prioritize the needs and spending decisions in a situation where orange caligula thinks he’s spent $91 billion when it is closer to $10 billion and people are still without roofs almost 2 years after Hurricane Maria destroyed everything: communications, ports, roads and bridges, water and energy infrastructure. C.) Rosello hit the ground running after his 2016 election. He became mired in the local political swamp when the ability to manage anything was taken away by PROMESA. Everything is being decided by conflict of interest bound appointees and nothing is getting done from the citizens’ point of view.
I have lived in PR since 1993. This governor was not anywhere near the worst or most corrupt. The previous governor (Padilla) bought citizenship in Spain with a $7 million sponsorship of a soccer team. Rather than pay the bill due for hospital air transport, Padilla bought an $8 million helicopter that has never flown, never certified the machine. They planned the bankruptcy of Puerto Rico, thinking they were in a position to write their own custom bankruptcy law. When that didn’t happen, Rossello ran and won overwhelmingly with a detailed plan to fix the mess. Never really got the chance to try the chats were disgusting. I wish they were something unique to those exposed, but I’m pretty sure it was business as usual here.
4 Likes
In the late 90s and early oughts, Dick Armey and Tom DeLay were pushing all manner of tax breaks and enterprise zones for Puerto Rico. They even hinted at statehood (on GOP terms of course). Of course the objective was getting contributions from corporations (Bacardi has always had a sweet deal on taxes).
All this “laboratory of democracy” horseshit was accompanied by grooming GOP hacks in the approved manner pioneered by Roger Ailes and Frank Luntz. This douchebag governor looks like a product of that effort: a vapid pretty boy who looks like a Latino version of James Lankford or any number of plastic identikit Republican shills.
2 Likes
I’ve read Yulin Cruz will be running for governor next year, will she able to take charge and at least begin to turn things around.
3 Likes
It used to be Churchill and Roosevelt. We’ve been reduced to Johnson and trumPP. Oy vey.
3 Likes
This would be a godsend for the people of Puerto Rico.
2 Likes
According to CNN, the outcry was catalyzed by the publishing of homophobic and sexist messages exchanged between Rosselló and some of his
closestcloset lieutenants.
FIFY!
1 Like
Carmen Julin talks real good, but she is not the answer. PR does not need a socialist soberanista. (She represents a more socialist wing of the Partido Popular Democratico - not to be confused with the Democrats in the US) Ricardo Rossello is a Democrat. No one can turn things around until PROMESA/the Fiscal Control Board lets locals control their own government again. It will take many decades to pay down the debt here at the rate those entities are skimming off everything for their own emoluments.
“Ricky” is stepping down. Nothing will change unless it gets worse.