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Speaking at a Friday Change-of-Command ceremony for the United States Coast Guard, President Donald Trump discussed the actions of the service during hurricane relief efforts in 2017.
“America is safe because out Coast Guard is strong,” Trump said in his remarks. “And last season during the hurricanes, I was in Texas, I was in Florida, I was in Puerto Rico, I saw the work that you did under the most adverse conditions,” he added.
From there, Trump appeared to go off script, shifting from a standard political speech to a tone more fitting for the businessman-turned-president — by praising the Coast Guard’s “brand.”
“And I’ve said this to a lot of people, I don’t think any brand has gained more momentum or has gained more of anything than the brand of the United States Coast Guard,” he said.
“People have tremendous respect for the United States Coast Guard,” Trump said as the crowd cheered. “I’ve told you that before.”
Trump’s praise for the Coast Guard’s supposedly new and improved brand comes just days after a new academic report claimed an estimate of 4,645 deaths in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria.
That newly estimated figure, extrapolated from a survey of 3,299 households in Puerto Rico, would well surpass the official estimate of just 64 deaths. But according to CNN, the government of Puerto Rico said they have no reason to question the results of the latest survey.
Trump’s decision to comment on the Coast Guard’s brand while staying silent on the new death toll estimate didn’t go unnoticed on Twitter:
Trump has yet to comment on the nearly 5,000 dead in Puerto Rico, or how they affect the “momentum” anyone’s “brand. » https://t.co/9xYWgDBTxN
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) June 1,2018
Trump ignores 4600 deaths in Puerto Rico, says federal response improved “brand” https://t.co/yIiw9h1CX2
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 1,2018
Friday was not the first Trump has commented on the Coast Guard’s supposed brand boost as a result of recent relief efforts. Trump made similar remarks during a Thanksgiving visit to a Coast Guard station near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“If you were looking at it as a brand, there’s no brand that went up more than the Coast Guard, with what happened in Texas,” he said at the time.
