Trump's Cuba Policy

For many, many, many years the United States government banged its head against a wall as it tried to force Latin America to accept its Cuba policy. Years of U.S. intervention had left the region cold to U.S. efforts to dictate what happened in Cuba. Moreover, U.S. insistence made Latin America less likely to do anything for fear of looking like a stooge at home.

That's the policy that Barack Obama started to reverse in late 2014.

Just over three years later, the Trump administration has decided it loves useless head banging and likes isolating the United States from the rest of the western hemisphere. Here is what a State Department official said as Rex Tillerson got ready to leave for his Latin America trip:

"The upcoming undemocratic transition of political authority in Cuba is likely to be raised at multiple stops throughout the secretary's trip," the State Department official said, alluding to President Raul Castro's decision to step down later this year and be replaced by a handpicked successor.

This is mindbogglingly counterproductive. Latin American leaders will immediately take him less seriously and wonder when the hell the Cold War is finally going to end.