Newsmax host on potential US intervention in Cuba: “I think people struggle with how this is America First when gas is $4.55 a gallon right now”
Rob Finnerty: “Is now really the time for another foreign entanglement? ... Say what you want about the polling, but it's not good. People are clearly losing their patience.”
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Citation
From the May 20, 2026, edition of Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): My goodness. We have been talking about Cuba since JFK. And 65 years and 11 different administrations later, we are still talking about Cuba, an island in the Caribbean, roughly the size of Kentucky. And today, former Cuban leader Raul Castro, 94 years old, the brother of Fidel, was indicted by a US grand jury in connection with the Cuban military shooting down two US rescue planes in 1996. Four people died. But there's a lot more to this story that nobody is really talking about, and today's indictment could be the first step for something a lot bigger in Cuba.
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FINNERTY: The White House clearly wants to do something about Cuba. CIA director John Ratcliffe was in Cuba last week calling on the Cuban government to make fundamental changes, very vague. But all this coming on the heels of Iran and then Iran again and Venezuela. Is now really the time for another foreign entanglement? Because according to two new polls — and say what you want about the polling, but it's not good. People are clearly losing their patience. Kentucky congressman James Comer is the chairman of the Oversight Committee, and he's fresh off a primary win last night. Mr. Chairman, congratulations. And I do want to talk to you about Thomas Massie in Kentucky, but first, you're the chairman of Oversight. This Cuba thing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a message to the people of Cuba today in Spanish, then Raul Castro gets indicted. I get it. The Ayatollah is gone. Nicolás Maduro is in jail, but now Cuba, I just — look. I think people struggle with how this is America First when gas is $4.55 a gallon right now.
REP. JAMES COMER (GUEST): It is, and you're absolutely right. But at the end of the day, Cuba has always been a national security threat. As you said earlier, we've been negotiating with Cuba since before I was born. I'm 53 years old. So, the negotiations have gone nowhere. Cuba's leader is at the end of his lifespan. The Cuban people clearly — unlike maybe the Iranian people, the Cuban people clearly, want a regime change in Cuba. It's just, you know, minutes away from Miami and Florida and the United States. So it's it's a strategic problem for the United States —
FINNERTY: But do you really think they're a threat, Mr. Chairman? Do you really think that Cuba's a threat?
COMER: Well, if if some country went in and loaded Cuba with the same drones that Iran had when we first started bombing Iran, then, yes, I think it could be a threat. I don't think that's there. I know John Ratcliffe has been on the ground. The CIA is on the ground as we speak, talking to the Cuban officials. I really don't think, Rob, it'll get to any type of military action, but the president's threatening that. He's increased sanctions on Cuba. I don't know how many more sanctions the Cubans can take —
FINNERTY: Yeah.
COMER: Especially after what happened in Venezuela. The Cuban American population clearly supports what the president's doing in Cuba. Thus far, it hasn't cost any tax dollars other than to send a few diplomats to Cuba. But at the end of the day, I think that we've got to be on guard because of the new types of of warfare that's out there with these new drones and the new technology —
FINNERTY: Well, I get it.
COMER: We're seeing it play out in Iran.