by Alex Frandsen, columnist

The first disaster to hit Puerto Rico was Hurricane Maria. One of the strongest storms to reach the island in years, it left many of the 3.4 million residents without power, without drinking water and for thousands, without a home.

The second disaster was President Donald J. Trump’s handling of the situation. He was initially slow to respond, and when he did, the scale of his response was widely regarded as too small. He was roundly criticized, with some of the harshest condemnations coming from the mayor of San Juan herself, Carmen Yulín Cruz. Too thin-skinned to let the criticism go, Trump lashed out on Twitter, accusing her of “poor leadership” and claiming that the Puerto Rican people wanted “everything done for them.”

The general public’s reaction to the president’s handling of the situation boiled down to one main sentiment: Trump dropped the ball and left Puerto Rico to fend for itself.

That sentiment isn’t wrong, but it ignores a crucial fact: Trump’s terrible actions aren’t anything unusual. They’re simply the latest incident in a long history of the U.S. government mistreating the incorporated territory. Trump was just following the federal precedent that has been set for years — ignore Puerto Rico, except when the island has something the mainland government wants.

The track record of the one-sided relationship began way back in 1898, during the Spanish-American War. The United States invaded the Spanish-held island and promised to give them increased rights, a tempting offer for a population that had been largely subjugated up to that point by the Spanish empire. Instead, the United States eschewed the locally-elected government and installed their own colonial system. They then proceeded to promptly flood the island with U.S. businessmen who went about establishing a sugar economy that would directly benefit the mainland.

In 1917, the federal government finally got around to granting citizenship to Puerto Ricans, but with a catch: The United States desperately needed troops for World War I and thought the Puerto Ricans would make fine soldiers. The only way to conscript them was to make them official U.S. citizens. So, the decision was made. Not because the United States was attempting to be fair, but because they needed bodies in a bloody war.

Even with their newfound citizenship, Puerto Ricans had little power. They couldn’t, and still can’t, vote in national elections, and they lack real representation in Congress. Island residents elect someone to voice their concerns in Washington, but the representative has no vote, even on issues directly pertaining to Puerto Rico.

No path to statehood currently exists for Puerto Rico. The only people who can turn a territory into a state are voting members of Congress, of which the island has none. So despite the fact that Puerto Rico has voted heavily in favor of statehood, they are likely stuck in their incorporated purgatory. Forever used, with little given back.

When viewed through this historical prism, Trump’s actions over the past few weeks make sense. Why would he worry about U.S. citizens who can’t even retaliate with a vote against him in the next presidential election? Why would he treat Puerto Ricans equally when years of precedent say to do otherwise?

Trump certainly didn’t help the problem with his response. But the real issue is our nation’s long tradition of exploiting the island without proper reciprocation.