Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora will not attend the ceremony at the White House on Thursday honoring the 2018 World Series champions.
Cora cited the Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in his native Puerto Rico as the reason for his decision.“The government has done some things back home that are great, but we still have a long ways to go,” he said on Sunday following a 9-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. “That’s our reality. It’s pretty tough to go celebrate when we’re where we’re at. I’d rather not go and be consistent with everything.”
Cora recently said he might attend the ceremony and say something, but had a change of heart after speaking with family and friends “We talked about it and decided (not going) was the best way to do it,” he said.
Cora said he informed the Red Sox of his decision a few days ago. Boston plays at Baltimore Monday through Wednesday and has a day off on Thursday.
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts also said on Sunday he won’t visit the White House.
It pains me that the others are still planning to visit, though.
Trump responds (apparently):
First of all, although it might be obvious to everyone except Trump, some states get more in hurricane relief than others because SOME STATES ARE AFFECTED BY HURRICANES MORE THAN OTHERS!
Secondly, Puerto Rico has not received 91 billion dollars in relief. Not even close. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as of the end of last year, Puerto Rico had actually received about $11.2 billion in disaster relief payments since 2017.
In all, the federal government has allocated nearly $41 billion, and has obligated about half of it via binding agreements, but as we said, so far just a portion of that — $11.2 billion — has been distributed in Puerto Rico.
To get to the $91 billion figure, a senior administration official told us Trump is including the total allocation for Puerto Rico — $41 billion — plus an estimated $50 billion in future FEMA costs “over the life of the disaster,” which can stretch decades.