Can Trump go any lower?

I've never met a human being more despicable than Donald Trump, and I met Susan Atkins.

(At the time, she was not yet a criminal. She seemed nice.)

Some hours ago, I learned that he had decided to use the female mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, as the target of his calumny and barely-disguised racism. He would never have said such degrading things about a white male. If most Puerto Ricans were Anglo, he would never have dared to suggest that they were lazy creatures who wanted everything done for them.

Here is just one of his outrageous tweets:

The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.

If anyone on that island praised him in the initial stages of this crisis, they did so only because they knew of Trump's legendary narcissism: One must stroke his ego to have any hope of help. The fact is that Trump went on a golfing holiday and did not speak on the phone last weekend with anyone involved with the relief effort. Instead of helping American citizens, he devoted all of his time to an otiose racist contretemps with some football players.

Trump and his blinkered supporters are now saying that a conspiracy of Democrats forced Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz to say critical things about Trump. Is there any evidence for this assertion? No. Most rational people understand that the Mayor is pissed off for good reason: Her town and her island have been destroyed and the Trump administration's relief effort has been ill-run and ineffective.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Conspiracy theory is no longer a tool for establishing the truth. It has become a tool for establishing post-truth, for tossing out reality and substituting it with a comforting or convenient fantasy. Whatever Trump wants to be, is -- albeit only in his mind.

This WP profile tells us a lot about Cruz. She is, in every conceivable way, Donald Trump's moral and intellectual superior. The photo to your right shows her wading into muddy waters up to her waist. The photo above shows Mayor Cruz comforting a woman whom Trump would undoubtedly consider untouchable.

Yet the disgustingly swinish Breitbarters call Cruz "shameful." At this point, I refuse to concede that the term "human being" should be applied to anyone who reads that cyber-rag. Right now, I have more respect for dog vomit than I have for a Breitbarter.

Dan Scavino, Trump's Social Media Director, calls Mayor Cruz "the perfect example of an opportunistic politician." I would say that Donald Trump is the perfect example of an opportunistic infection.

By the way: Did you know that Trump screwed over Puerto Rico to the tune of $33 million well before he ran for president? Details here.

Let's look at some tweets. First, ABC News correspondent Clayton Sandell:

Our @abc team in Puerto Rico has been with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz as she's been using a megaphone & radio to coordinate getting meals & water to the elderly, & helping with rescues and clearing debris. Today the President of the United States attacks her on Twitter.

Here's the toast of Broadway, Lin-Manual Miranda:

You're going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump. No long lines for you. Someone will say, "Right this way, sir." They'll clear a path.

Kurt Eichenwald:

Anyone - ANYONE - who excuses or justifies @POTUS's obscene tweets about Puerto Rico today is either a liar, a sociopath, of deep in Cult45.

Adam Khan raises a good point:

Hard to believe we spend billions on drones to kill evil doers but don't use drones to deliver disaster aid relief in hard to access areas

I'll say it again: We airlifted supplies into impossible-to-reach areas during WWII. Didn't Trump ever see the film version of Empire of the Sun? (I know he hasn't read the book.)

A man named Nelson Rosario offers an important response to Trump's verbal vomit:

My dad lives on the island. I shared the President's response with him this morning. He wanted me to share one anecdote in response.

For context, my dad is helping with rebuilding right now, and has friends in the govt, elected and appointed, on the island. After I told him what the President said he went quiet and said "Wow."

A second later he says "I'm gonna share one detail with you. One. There's a medical center down here, and everyone that was in the Intensive Care Unit, died. Everyone. That's just one detail."

He said that's what should be tweeted at the President @realDonaldTrump, so that's what I'm doing.

Disaster response is insanely difficult. I get that. My wife has worked in the field for almost ten years. What I don't think is too much to ask is for the President to show a little compassion and grace. Maybe that's me wanting everything to be done for me. All I know is I'm lucky my family is okay, and I can occasionally hear from my dad.

Here is an interesting number from TV news producer Kyle Griffin:

Trump sent this tweet from his golf club in Bedminster. It's his 67th day at a golf course as POTUS.

Anderson Cooper:

6 first responders have all expressed dismay to me today at lack of organization they have personally experienced. "It's f***** up," was the most common description.

CNN:

Ret. Lt. Gen. Honoré on Trump tweets: “The mayor’s living on a cot and I hope the President has a good day at golf.”

Preet Bharara summarizes Trump's responses to disaster victims...

1. Swim better 2. You're fired 3. I'll sell you this life preserver for $1M 4. Lazy Puerto Rican

Elizabeth Warren:

The definition of "poor leadership" is sitting at your golf club while millions of US citizens beg for your help, @realDonaldTrump.