Donald Trump says Marco Rubio should be the next president of CUBA
by EMMA RICHTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER · Mail OnlineDonald Trump appears to be rooting for Marco Rubio to be the next president of Cuba as the commander-in-chief continues to hurl threats at the Caribbean country.
Trump took to Truth Social Sunday morning, simply stating: 'Sounds good to me!' after a random X user posted that 'Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba.' The current leader is President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Though it is unclear if Trump was being serious about the secretary of state, who is the son of Cuban refugees, becoming Cuba's next leader, the President and others appear to be loving the idea of it.
Many have taken to social media with memes of Rubio dressed for the job, as one image showed him in a hat, a white floral shirt and a Cuban cigar in his mouth.
In another meme, Rubio was seen smoking a cigar, dressed in a green military-like outfit similar to the one the country's former communist leader Fidel Castro used to wear.
Rubio already has his plate full as he serves not just as Trump's secretary of state, but the acting national security advisor and acting national archivist.
He briefly served as administrator to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) until August, when the administration shut it down completely.
The internet has appeared to become obsessed with hiring Rubio for a new job every time the head of a country, local politician, or coach of a sports team leaves their post.
Just last week Rubio got in on the joke, taking to his X account to address an online rumor that he would help run the Miami Dolphins football team.
'I do not normally respond to online rumors but feel the need to do so at this moment I will not be a candidate for the currently vacant HC and GM positions with the Miami Dolphins,' he wrote on Thursday.
'While you never know what the future may bring right now my focus must remain on global events and also the precious archives of the United States of America. Thank you.'
He's been seen in other memes dressed as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the replacement for captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and even the head of Hilton Hotels after the company made headlines for allegedly refusing to house Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The idea of him running Greenland, a territory Trump has vocally said he wants to take control of, has also been swirling around.
The president's comment on Rubio comes as he threatened Cuba to make a deal with the US 'before it's too late.'
The Republican leader took to Truth Social Sunday morning, warning the communist regime, run by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, that it will no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Cuba has long depended on Venezuela's hefty oil supply, but after Maduro was nabbed last week by the US, Trump got interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez to send the country's oil to America.
'THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,' the commander-in-chief said.
Trump added: 'Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela.
'In return, Cuba provided "Security Services" for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!
'Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last weeks U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn't need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,' he continued.
The president's comment refers to the US attack in Venezuela that left 100 people dead, including 32 members of Cuba's military and intelligence service who guarded Maduro.
Rubio went on to double down, warning that the nation's leadership should be worried.
'Suffice it to say, you know, Cuba is a disaster,' Rubio said at the press conference. 'It's run by incompetent, senile men.'
'If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned, at least a little bit,' the secretary of state added.
According to Venezuelan officials, the dictator's security team was killed 'in cold blood' after the US attacked last week.
But, according to Trump, Venezuela now has America 'to protect them' while Maduro languishes at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center on narco-terrorism and drug charges.
'Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will,' Trump insisted.
Following the dramatic arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, Rubio dodged questions on whether the US would be 'running' Venezuela now.
'What we are running is the direction that this is going to move moving forward,' the Secretary of State said when pressed on ABC's This Week by host George Stephanopoulos.
'Well, it's largely going to be run for a period of time by the people standing right behind me,' Trump said at the press conference at Mar-a-Lago. 'We're gonna be running it.'
The comments earned Rubio the nickname 'the Viceroy of Venezuela' from the Washington Post and suggested he would take on yet another role.
Stephanopoulos, a veteran of Democratic President Bill Clinton's White House, repeatedly pressed Rubio on what legal authority the United States had to remove Maduro from his country and who the US viewed as the country's current leader.
'So is the United States running Venezuela right now?' he asked.
After Rubio's initial remark on the U.S. pointing Venezuela in the right direction, the Secretary of State explained that the United States currently has a quarantine on Venezuela's oil.
'That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met,' Rubio said. 'And that's what we intend to do.
'So that leverage remains, that leverage is ongoing, and we expect that it's going to lead to results here,' Rubio continued.
The Daily Mail contacted the White House for comment.