Michael Crowley

Well, this is very much by design.

The Trump administration until now has not talked a lot about Cuba, but has always had big plans for Cuba.

And I think it's important to understand how much this is coming from Marco Rubio.

Rubio is driving this.

And we may be approaching an endgame that Rubio has worked towards for decades now.

You know, let's start with his background and origins.

Rubio is Cuban-American.

His parents fled to the United States from Cuba before Castro took power in 1959, but were very strongly anti-Castro.

So Rubio grows up in a community of Cuban exiles, and he makes it really his signature issue.

as he dives into the politics of South Florida, where Cuban exiles who are vituperatively opposed to the Cuban regime have enormous influence.

And Rubio has made his opposition to the Cuban government and his efforts to promote its overthrow central to his political identity for his entire career.

And maybe the most vivid detail to underscore that is when Rubio himself ran for president in 2016,

He announced his campaign at what is known as the Freedom Tower in Miami.

Which was the first stop for those Cuban refugees to sort of announce their arrival in the U.S.

That's right.

This is at the core of his personal and political identity.

And I think that for him, possibly even more than for President Trump, getting rid of the current Cuban government would be a sort of crowning legacy achievement that would make him feel like his political career had all been worth it.

It's all been kind of working toward this, if he can get it.

Well, you've seen this incredible focus by the Trump administration on the Western hemisphere, and in particular, Latin America.

And Rubio really spearheaded the Trump administration's pressure on Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, which ultimately led to Maduro's capture in early January.