President Donald Trump criticized Cuba on Tuesday and claimed on social media that “No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba, which is a failed country and only heading in one direction – down!” He added, “Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!!!”
[Note: Days after his second inauguration, Trump issued an executive order declaring that Cuba “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, citing its ties to hostile actors including Russia, China and Iran. This year, the Trump administration has tightened sanctions and restricted oil shipments to the island nation led by communist President Miguel Díaz-Canel. And in March, Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a Republican, and of Cuban descent — threatened: “Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work and a political and governmental system that can’t fix it. So they have to change dramatically.”]
“No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba” is a weird and ridiculous thing for a politician from Florida to say. pic.twitter.com/4OaAQ49aTH
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) May 12, 2026
Trump’s claim that “no Republican has ever spoken to him about Cuba” is getting pushback on social media. The Independent‘s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg replied: “‘No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba’ is a weird and ridiculous thing for a politician from Florida to say.”
[NOTE: Approximately 61 percent (1.8 million) of Cubans living in the U.S. live in Florida.]
U.S. Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez, and María Elvira Salazar — all Republicans, all in Florida, all with Cuban roots — often praise Trump’s strict policies against the Cuban regime. All three politicians received Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement” in their 2024 reelection campaigns, and Gimenez has posted on social media about meeting with Trump to discuss “the danger posed by Russian warships in Communist #Cuba.”
Today, Giménez responded to Trump’s claim with a photo of Sen. John Thune (R-SD) who has warned Trump against a military attack on Cuba, and wrote: “I understand THESE Senate Republicans have NEVER spoken to the President about Cuba. Thinking about it, they’ve never demonstrated much of a willingness to stand with the Cuban people. President Trump & Sec. Marco Rubio have done so much to weaken the regime in #Cuba & we’re proud to work together and support their efforts to do even more.”
#SOSCuba I understand THESE Senate Republicans have NEVER spoken to the President about Cuba. Thinking about it, they’ve never demonstrated much of a willingness to stand with the Cuban people.
President Trump & Sec. Marco Rubio have done so much to weaken the regime in #Cuba…
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) May 12, 2026
[NOTE: More complicated for some Cuban-rooted American lawmakers is that Trump also ended, in April 2025, the CHNV humanitarian parole program that, under the Biden administration, gave protected status to qualifying immigrants from Cuba — along with others from Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The move changed the status of nearly 100,000 Cubans in America to undocumented, alienating “many Cuban-American Trump supporters in Florida and some Republican lawmakers,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations.]