Puerto Rico’s crisis and the curse of American colonialism

Worldly

Vox Media Podcast Network

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2017

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Yochi, Jenn, and Zack look at how the Trump administration’s bungled response to the crisis in Puerto Rico reflects the longstanding challenges facing an island that is neither a full US state (with all the benefits that brings) nor a fully independent country (which can more easily ask for, and receive, financial aid). That leaves Puerto Rico in many cases getting the worst of both worlds, with its people paying a heavy price. On Elsewhere, they look at what happens if Secretary of State Rex Tillerson loses his job after reportedly calling Trump a “moron” — and after being publicly humiliated for months by a president he clearly doesn’t respect. Zack takes a brave stand against colonialism, Jenn decides to run for president, and Yochi prepares for the darkness that will descend if Mr. Charisma Rex Tillerson moves on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Worldly, Fox's Weekly Guide to the Most Important Stories in the World,
0:12.3	part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:15.0	There are weeks where photos are just stunning.
0:18.1	And in this past week, the photos in Puerto Rico of hospitals flooded, of streets flooded, of streets
0:22.3	clogged, of people
0:23.5	literally begging for help because it's 105 degrees in the route of water.
0:27.0	Those are the ones we've been seeing. But there are times where the numbers also
0:30.3	matter, and I just want to read a couple of them. 3.4 million. That's the number of Puerto Ricans who are all American
0:36.7	citizens. 1560, which is the miles from where we are recording this to Puerto Rico, which is not very far.
0:43.7	Unknown, which is how many have died or how much it'll cost to rebuild all of this.
0:47.9	And perhaps the most jarring of all, 46, which are the percentage of Americans who don't know that people born in Puerto Rico
0:54.2	are themselves American citizens.
0:56.4	We are not worth anything to them.
1:01.4	It's the same in Congress in the US. They implement laws
1:05.1	that are detrimental to us and as soon as there's an emergency out here they
1:10.1	forget about the fact that we are US Territory.
1:14.6	All of which raises two very big questions.
1:17.0	One, how do we get here?
1:18.2	How do we get to a place where the United States has colonies?
1:21.4	And how does that impact how we rebuild after this kind of catastrophe.
1:24.3	So here to talk this through we have Jen we have Zach. So it is fair to call Puerto Rico
1:29.7	a colony of the United States right now to understand why you need to go back at least
	...

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