BS BULLETIN:
- President Trump joked Tuesday that the U.S. could simply “drop” Secretary of State Marco Rubio into Cuba and let him handle things.
- The crack came hours after Trump told the U.N. that Cuba is a “failed state” that “will fall.”
- Rubio, whose parents were born in Cuba, is already deeply involved in the administration’s negotiations and escalating pressure campaign against Havana.
President Donald Trump spent Tuesday turning up the heat on Cuba.
Then he offered a rather Trumpian solution to the whole problem: Send Marco.
Speaking alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Shield of the Americas event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump noted Cuba’s worsening problems, including another blackout.
“They had another blackout last night; they don’t have enough lights,” Trump said. “I don’t know what’s going on with Cuba, but they’re not looking so good.”
Trump then turned to Rubio, the Cuban-American secretary of state who has played a central role in the administration’s Cuba policy.
“Marco’s parents were born in Cuba, it’s like a great story,” Trump said, adding that Rubio wants to “figure it all out.”
Apparently Trump has figured out the transportation arrangements.
“So, we’ll just someday, in the near future, drop him off in the middle of Cuba.”
Trump joked that one of America’s “big, beautiful aircraft carriers” could deliver Rubio to the island and “he’ll figure out the rest.”
“He always does,” Trump added, before praising Rubio for the job he is doing as secretary of state.
The joke came after a decidedly more serious warning from Trump earlier in the day.
As The Daily BS reported Tuesday, members of Cuba’s delegation walked out of Trump’s U.N. address as the president declared the communist government an “absolutely failed state” and predicted that “it will fall.”
“Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba,” Trump told the General Assembly.
Trump also revealed that Rubio is “deep into negotiations with Cuba,” although he did not provide details about those talks.
The administration’s pressure on Havana isn’t merely rhetorical.
Trump declared a national emergency regarding Cuba in January and established a mechanism allowing additional tariffs on countries that supply oil to the island. Just last week, Rubio announced sanctions targeting Cuban state enterprises and military officials connected to the country’s mineral wealth and military modernization programs.
So Rubio may indeed have plenty to figure out.
Presumably he’ll get to use an airplane.
MY QUICK TAKE
I miss foreign policy like this.
No 47-page white paper. No blue-ribbon commission. No special envoy with a six-month mandate.
“Marco, we’re dropping you off. Fix Cuba.”
Somewhere, Rubio is quietly checking whether secretary of state comes with Uber credits.
DBS WIRE SOURCES
- Mediaite — Trump jokes about dropping Rubio in Cuba
- White House — Trump participates in Shield of the Americas event
- Roll Call Factbase — Trump Shield of the Americas remarks
- Reuters — Trump says freedom will be coming to Cuba
- The Daily BS — Cuban delegation walks out as Trump unloads at UN
