Chuck Todd

It's a group of exiles on a beach in Cuba.

that we're about to define the limits of American power that I want to focus on because there's echoes here for the current situation in Iran and, of course, what could be coming next in Cuba.

So let me start with that.

So we're doing the Bay of Pigs, in case you're wondering.

And it's the long shadow of this.

Before we get to the invasion, we have to start with something a bit uncomfortable.

The United States didn't just lose Cuba.

It misread it.

For years, the U.S.

backed

a gentleman by the name of Fulgencio Batista, until he became indefensible.

So when Fidel Castro takes power in 1959, Washington doesn't immediately slam the door on working with Castro.

But it wasn't warm either.

Castro comes and visits the United States, but Dwight Eisenhower refuses to meet with him.

He goes golfing.

And Richard Nixon meets with him instead, the vice president.

And it tells you everything you need to know.

This wasn't a clean break, but it also wasn't a real opening.

Do you think is there any credence to her criticism, though, that that it is harder for that it is harder for women to get traction with the MAGA wing of the party?

By the time Washington decides that Castro is a problem,