# Trump's New Target: Cuba **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 30, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207 "2026-01-30T18:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/41 "2026-02-20T21:48:46Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > What the hell, EXACTLY, has Cuba done to us, Well, a long time ago, they let the USSR to make nuke launch sites there. In 1959 Castro stole billions of $ of American assets in Cuba. They support terrorist/communist revolutions in Africa and latin America. And this- > [@Loach](#): > > They were helping to prop up Maduro in Venezuela. Not to mention they are one of the last Communist nations on Earth, and their people have few human rights. > **[World Report 2025: Rights Trends in Cuba](https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/cuba)** _The government continues to repress and punish virtually all forms of dissent and public criticism, as Cubans continue to endure a dire economic crisis affecting rights, including access to health and food._ _Hundreds of critics and protesters, including many who took to the streets in July 2021, remain arbitrarily detained_ ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/42 "2026-02-20T23:15:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, a long time ago, they let the USSR to make nuke launch sites there. That was in response to our invasion of them after they overthrew the corrupt puppet we had installed. Ever hear of the Bay of Pigs? It did not inspire the Cuban people to rise up against Castro as we expected. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/43 "2026-02-20T23:36:36Z")
Not a single bit of it justifies what Little Marco… I mean Trump is threatening. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/44 "2026-02-21T00:03:23Z")
Every revolution has its refugees. Wasn’t New Brunswick settled by people who had to leave after the American revolution? ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/45 "2026-02-21T00:23:41Z")
like the US hasn’t supported dozens of brutal dictatorships over the decades ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/46 "2026-02-21T00:29:40Z")
I mean one of the anti-Castro crowd in Florida themes is that Cuba is COMMUNIST, so bad. SO!! I mean Cuba has never killed one American, yet we do business with Vietnam who is still Communist and also killed thousand of our troops. We’ve done business for years with Communist Russia and China, so why Cuba obsession? 50,000 Cuban-American GOP voters running foreign policy ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/47 "2026-02-21T00:41:29Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > like the US hasn’t supported dozens of brutal dictatorships over the decades Not so much with sponsoring terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/48 "2026-02-21T00:43:54Z")
like Iran/Contra? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/49 "2026-02-21T00:47:55Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not so much with sponsoring terrorism. Is lying awake at night wondering if the door is going to be kicked in and masked men are going to drag you to the stadium where you can wait while they decide if you get to go on the helicopter ride to see the ocean one last time terrorism? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/50 "2026-02-21T01:51:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not so much with sponsoring terrorism. We often do the terrorism ourselves directly. And we trained an awful lot of future dictators and death squad members in terror tactics, torture methods and the use of rape as a political weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/51 "2026-02-21T04:56:47Z")
TFG’s “reasoning” is in the linked NYT article. Or justification. Or whatever the hell it is. > On Jan. 29, Mr. Trump declared a national emergency, [claiming that Cuba is a hotbed](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/americas/mexico-cuba-oil.html) for spies and terrorists and threatening tariffs against any nation that provides petroleum products to the island. It’s the same logic that TFG has used for pretty much everything horrible he’s done in this term, like the just struck down tariffs. Using the magic of “declare it a national emergency” and poof, he can do whatever he wants. And doesn’t even have to bother going through the trouble of having Congress pass the [Enabling Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933). ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/52 "2026-02-26T16:02:44Z")
Should we call this the Bay of Swine? [https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/four-killed-cuba-shootout-9.7105978](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/four-killed-cuba-shootout-9.7105978) Of course Rubio has no idea who these guys were or why they were headed from Florida to Cuba with violence on their minds. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/53 "2026-02-26T18:26:50Z")
> “Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It’s not something that happens every day. It’s something, frankly, that hasn’t happened with Cuba in a very long time,” Rubio said. It didn’t happen every day until Trump decided that all the cool kids are committing war crimes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/54 "2026-02-26T20:10:53Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Of course Rubio has no idea who these guys were or why they were headed from Florida to Cuba with violence on their minds. 10 amateur crooks? Yeah, he had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/55 "2026-02-28T20:00:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > 10 amateur crooks? Yeah, he had no idea. He misread that, they where heading to Cuba to open a TACO restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/56 "2026-02-28T20:35:37Z")
**Moderating:** > [@Atamasama](#): > > It didn’t happen every day until Trump decided that all the cool kids are committing war crimes. > [@DrDeth](#): > > 10 amateur crooks? Yeah, he had no idea. > [@enipla](#): > > He misread that, they where heading to Cuba to open a TACO restaurant. Okay, I let the first go, because it’s a one off, then the second, because who wants to be a killjoy, but this is the third. I get gallows humor, but please, it’s still P&E, don’t post _just_ for the yuks on Trump. You all know where to go for that. No warnings of course, but please and thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/57 "2026-02-28T21:56:29Z")
For what its worth, I opened this thread in the pit for this very reason . [https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-killed-6-injured-in-boat-shootout-cuban-government-says](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-killed-6-injured-in-boat-shootout-cuban-government-says) ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/58 "2026-03-20T14:42:10Z")
Russian tanker full of oil headed for Cuba. [Russian oil tanker heading to Cuba amid US economic blockade | Cuba | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/19/cuba-us-economic-blockade-trump-russian-oil-tanker#:~:text=Another%20tanker%2C%20the%20Hong%20Kong,States%2C%20European%20Union%20and%20UK). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/59 "2026-03-20T15:02:31Z")
So nice when Russia shows the world that they’re more humanitarian than the USA. (Not that they are human rights champions or anything, but this doesn’t help the image of the US abroad. Hopefully if at least helps the Cubans.) ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207/60 "2026-03-20T15:18:41Z")
Don’t know who is playing chess or checkers, but if the US attempts to block or attack a Russian flagged tanker…jeez what a mess. The oil blockade is really hurting the Cuban people, no power for electrical generation, food is spoiling,no power to hospitals or oil for vehicles etc etc…its a bad time there. (just hearing through NPR) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-target-cuba/1027207.md?page=4)