President Trump feuds with San Juan mayor as storm takes direct aim at Puerto Rico

President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued his feud with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, deriding her as "incompetent" in a morning tweet as Tropical Storm Dorian bore down on Puerto Rico with near-hurricane force.

"We are tracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico," Trump wrote. "FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You - Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!"

Wednesday was the second day in a row Trump had complained about the frequency with which storms have hit the U.S. territory of 3.2 million people, which is again under a hurricane watch.

https://discover.ap.org/e/62432/-24-lon--74-zoom-1-apnews-true/4kjdqh/734243416?h=ebJEoss9jQMkkTByl6TfQoSaHJsJD-qVUr2o7bes3EA

On Tuesday, Trump took to Twitter to complain about "yet another big storm" heading toward Puerto Rico - writing "Will it ever end?" - and lamented how much aid Congress had previously allocated for recovery efforts there, using an inflated figure.

That drew a rebuke from Cruz.

"We are not going to be concerned by, frankly, his behavior, his lack of understanding, and it is ludicrous," she said during a CNN interview on Tuesday night. "So get out of the way, President Donald Trump, and let people who can do the job get the job done."

Cruz received national attention in 2017 when she criticized Washington's response to Hurricane Maria, pleading on television for help to "save us from dying."

That drew the ire of Trump, who took repeated aim at Cruz on Twitter, accusing her of "such poor leadership ability" and contending that Democrats at urged her to be "nasty" to him.

The sparring has continued since.

Late Tuesday, Trump formally declared that an emergency exists in Puerto Rico, activating the federal government response to supplement local storm preparation and recovery efforts.