Cowards!
Reflecting on 2016, when Donald Trump was initially campaigning for president, many doubted his chances of success. One of those opposing our current president was a senator from Florida, a man Miamians knew well— a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives who had run into trouble for the illegal personal use of credit cards belonging to the Florida Republican Party. His name is Marco Rubio.
At that time, Rubio commented on Trump: “America was built on ideas — equality of opportunity, freedom of speech, the rule of law — that Donald Trump’s campaign has been tearing down, mocking or abusing. Truth is, we have to stop him — not just for our party, but for our country.”
He stated, “Trump has refused to condemn white supremacism and the Ku Klux Klan, praised dictators Saddam Hussein and Moammar Qaddafi, and proposed infringing upon the First Amendment of our Constitution. That’s after he mocked disabled individuals, claimed China was too lenient on dissidents, demeaned women, and insulted war heroes.”
In a statement released in 2016 regarding Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Rubio said, “From his repression of the Russian people and the assassination of his critics, to his dangerous invasion of Ukraine and occupation of Crimea, to his threats against our NATO allies in Central and Eastern Europe, to the war crimes committed by Russian forces and their Syrian and Iranian allies in Aleppo, Putin’s Russia is a threat to global stability.”
Among many other criticisms of Putin in the recent past, Rubio has also called the Russian leader a “war criminal.” A Miami Herald article quotes Rubio saying, “The world will become a very scary place if we allow thugs like Putin to invade sovereign nations without severe consequences…We must be clear and unyielding in our support for the Ukrainian people’s fight against a merciless tyrant, and that begins with calling his actions for what they are — an act of terrorism.”
Yet, Rubio, now serving as Secretary of State, seems to advocate for President Trump regarding the individual he once called a “war criminal.” Trump has referred to Putin as a “genius” and “savvy,” and in the past, he has trusted the Russian leader’s word over the advice of his own intelligence agencies during his first presidency.
But Little Marco, as Trump once called him, now sits subservient to the same man he previously warned the nation against electing as president. As secretary of state, Marco now bows to his political mentor.
Then we have three members of Congress from Miami who claim to be Cuban but adhere to the Plattist philosophy that the island nation should belong to the United States. All three have built their careers on condemning everything and anything negative about Cuba to keep them in power here in Miami. And using Cuba and communism as their sleight of hand, U.S. Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar, and Carlos Giménez have done absolutely nothing —except for naming a few Miami streets after terrorists and passing one or two laws commemorating Cuban independence stolen by the U.S. in 1898— for constituencies who keep voting for them under false premises.
All three have been oddly (or should we say cowardly) silent about the new Trump administration’s treatment of Cubans and Venezuelans —their political base— who are being deported and mistreated in this country as if they were terrorists and undesirables.
All three are often absent —almost invisible— when the press tries to question them about Trump’s efforts to manipulate the will of a nation and its constitution to satisfy his desires— regardless of whether it is constitutional or not.
When questioned, they produce baffling responses that only they comprehend, which appear to appease the very individuals Trump harms, whom they misleadingly assert they protect, all while truly prioritizing themselves and their political benefactor.
For example, consider Salazar’s response when asked about the current deportations occurring without due process against Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and others from what Trump refers to as “shithole countries” (countries with large Black populations and Latin America): “Trump is cleaning up Biden’s political mess, and the legal limbo that Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans are facing is entirely Biden’s fault. He fooled them.”
Biden’s political mess? Seriously, Maria Elvira? I know you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, but what does Biden have to do with the current chaos being created by that monster you fear? She goes on to state: “They came here fleeing failed, communist countries believing in Biden’s empty promises. The Trump administration should take this under consideration and not punish them for Biden’s mistakes.”
I will give them credit for one thing: they’ve become experts at political sleight of hand. They blame others, as Trump always does, while hiding from the fact that they, along with the stray bullet of a president we now have, are part of the problem.
I can’t believe, however, that voters in South Florida, primarily Republican voters who supported the stray bullet, are not yet questioning their elected officials as we rapidly descend into a rabbit hole with no end in sight, whose results may be shocking, especially to the U.S. public.
Ultimately, we can describe these four so-called Cuban Americans —based on their actions, not their words— as what many of us have known for quite some time: cowards! They bow to their fearless leader, raising their right arms in a salute reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazis.
