U.S. Representative Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat, called President Donald Trump a “vile, desperate warmonger” on Friday in a post on X that quoted video of Trump telling a rally in Florida hours earlier that the United States would “take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran.”
Ansari’s post read in full, “Vile, desperate warmonger.” It did not name Trump but was posted as a quote of a 42-second clip of the president speaking on Oct. 23 at Alico Arena at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, where he held a midterm rally for Republican candidates, according to the Republican National Committee’s event page.
“Cuba, he wants to know what about Cuba. Give me a break,” Trump said in the clip. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran. We’ll do a little stopover.”
“Actually, what we’re going to do with Cuba is we’re going to come back from Iran, those beautiful ships will pass Cuba. We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast,” he continued. “They’ll raise up their hands, and then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal.”
A longer version of the remarks posted by the White House Rapid Response account shows Trump adding of Rubio, the secretary of state: “We don’t even have to stop, we can just put him in there and he’ll figure it out. He’s a great guy.” The account’s caption rendered the final words of the earlier passage as “finish up the job,” while the audio says “deal.” C-SPAN’s video of the rally carries the full speech.
Trump did not say in the clip what action, if any, he planned against Cuba. In January he signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over Cuba and authorizing tariffs on goods from countries that directly or indirectly supply oil to the island.
Ansari, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, has opposed the U.S. war with Iran. In a March 5 statement, she said she was “deeply concerned by President Trump’s decision to launch another illegal war, risking the lives of tens of thousands of U.S. servicemembers without Congressional authorization.”
She voted for two concurrent resolutions directing the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, both of which passed the House: H.Con.Res. 86 on June 3, by a 215-208 vote, and H.Con.Res. 93 on Sept. 15, by a 220-204 vote, according to House Clerk records.
Two days before the rally, Ansari wrote on X, “25th Amendment NOW. Trump is the biggest national security threat we face.” She said in the same post that Trump was “actively drawing up plans to renew the bombing on Iran’s energy infrastructure – a war crime.” The post did not cite a source for that claim.
The United States and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28. In a July 10 War Powers letter to Congress, Trump wrote that he “acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and as Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations.” Congress has not passed a declaration of war or an authorization for the use of military force against Iran.
Rubio did not address the rally remarks directly. Later on Friday he wrote on X, “To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba – now is the time,” urging them to “seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA.” The White House account reposted his message.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on Friday, “We reject every threat related to US ambitions toward Cuba.” President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote later that evening that the United States “makes clear that it does not renounce its ambitions of domination over Cuba.” Neither Cuban official named Trump.
As of Saturday, neither Trump nor the White House had responded to Ansari on X.
The description of Trump as a “vile, desperate warmonger” is Ansari’s characterization, as are her descriptions of the Iran conflict as an “illegal war” and of renewed strikes on energy infrastructure as “a war crime.” The record shows that Trump told the Fort Myers rally the United States would “take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran” without specifying any action, that the House has twice voted to direct the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, and that the administration says the strikes rest on the president’s constitutional authority. Trump and the White House had not responded to her post.