Trump revives Cuba intervention idea at Florida rally days before midterms

President Donald Trump told a rally for candidates in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday that U.S. warships returning from the Middle East could stop over in Cuba on the way home from the Iran war. "We'll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast," Trump said. "They'll raise up their hands. And then we're going to send (Secretary of State) Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal."

The line answered a shouted question from the crowd, days before the midterm elections and with voters voicing concern about what the Iran war has done to prices from gas to groceries. Trump first floated the Cuba stopover earlier this year and let it go quiet for months. The war is in its seventh month, well past the horizon of days the White House once set for it.

Moments after the rally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that "now is the time" on Cuba, addressing "those who seek to create positive change" and urging them "to seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA." Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has long taken a hard line against Cuba's leadership. His last extended public remarks before the post, a Sept. 29 television interview, made no mention of any agency: "The truth is Cuba has already fallen," he said then, hoping "there will be some people in there that open their eyes."

The escalation has a paper trail. The administration has announced criminal charges against former leader Raúl Castro, held meetings with Cuban officials in recent months that left the U.S. side unimpressed, and followed them with additional sanctions. At the United Nations last month, Trump said Rubio was "deep into negotiations with Cuba" and would "not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep." Trump has also told reporters that presidents have considered intervening in Cuba for decades — "it looks like I'll be the one that does it."

Days after the U.N. speech, the president anticipated a different ending: the two countries would "make a deal," he said — "I don't think we'll need the military. Cuba is failing very badly."