TrumpCuba's haseconomy destabilizedwouldn't Cubabe withcollapsing anlike aggressivethis oilif weren't for Trump's blockade. After artificially cratering its economy, baselesslyTrump declaringnow has the governmentgall to declare Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" while the country faces a humanitarian crisis worse than the 1990s Special Period. The blockade has caused power outages, business closings and severe food poverty affecting— seventhe outexact oftorment 10 Cubans who now skip meals. As job growth stagnates at home and his approval ratings sink, Trump threatenswanted aCubans "friendlyto takeover"endure —before hishe thirdused coupit attemptas afteran Venezuelaexcuse andfor Iranregime — allocating scarce fuel to police repression rather than helping desperate citizenschange.

Whether you're a free market conservative or more sympathetic to the Cuban regime, Trump's Cuba agenda is a disastrous idea. Republicans may enjoy watching their long-held fantasies of the collapse of a failing socialist system, but doing it by engineering economic paralysis risks a humanitarian crisis. They're tightening Cuba's fuel supply until the island stalls, while talk of regime change turns ordinary Cubans into pawns in a geopolitical power play.