Shortly after starting the war with Iran, Donald Trump made little effort to hide the fact that Cuba was his next target. The American president didn’t explicitly say that he intends to use military force against the island nation, but he did suggest that he intended to bring down the government in Havana — soon.

On Sunday night, during a Q&A on Air Force One, a reporter briefly brought up Cuba, at which point Trump interjected before the question could even be asked. “Cuba’s gonna be next,” he said. “Cuba’s a mess, it’s a failing country, and they’re gonna be next. Within a short period of time, it’s gonna fail. … Cuba’s gonna be next, yeah.”

The rhetoric was hardly unusual. On the contrary, the Republican has been making nearly identical comments for weeks, declaring two weeks ago, “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah. I mean, whether I free it, take it, think I can do anything I want with it.”

What’s more, it’s not just rhetoric. The Trump administration has effectively tried to strangle the Cuban government, enforcing an oil blockade around the island — in the process, sending much of Cuba into sporadic darkness — and even threatening to punish other countries that might be inclined to provide Cuba with the resources it needs.

The point of the policy is hardly subtle: The White House intends to push Cuban officials to the point of desperation, making it easier for the administration to impose its will. The longer the country goes without oil, the weaker its regime becomes.

It was against this backdrop that Russia announced plans to provide Cuba with oil — and Team Trump is apparently fine with it. The New York Times reported that the U.S. administration is “allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba, delivering a critical supply of energy to the island nation.” From the article:

The Russian ship’s arrival would shift the trajectory of a rapidly accelerating crisis in Cuba, buying the island nation at least a few weeks before its fuel reserves run out, analysts said.

It would also reduce pressure on a Cuban government facing a looming economic collapse and escalating threats from Washington, and show that, at least for now, the island can still depend on its longtime ally Russia.

While the Times’ account, which mirrored a related report in The Washington Post, hasn’t been independently verified by MS NOW, Trump largely confirmed the story during his Air Force One Q&A.

Asked about the developments, the Republican said on the record that it’s “fine” for Russia to provide Cuba with oil, adding, “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that.”

So, on one hand, Trump created an oil blockade intended to smother the Cuban government, but on the other hand, if his friends in Moscow want an exception to the policy, the American president appears happy to oblige.

Why would he allow a U.S. adversary to assist another U.S. adversary, while undermining his own administration’s policy? Giving Cuba time and resources that it would otherwise lack? Trump didn’t elaborate.

Complicating matters is the fact that the United States is currently at war with Iran, and there’s ample evidence suggesting that Russia is helping provide Iran with intelligence that could help it strike American targets.

The initial reaction from the American president and his team to the original allegations was to express total indifference. This was soon followed by news that the Republican administration agreed effectively to reward Putin’s regime by temporarily easing oil sanctions on the country — twice.

Soon after, Trump explicitly made the case that he understands Russia’s role in helping Iran, since the U.S. has assisted Ukraine.

And in case that weren’t quite enough, the Republican is now letting Moscow undermine his own U.S. policy in Cuba, too.

Trump is no doubt aware of concerns that he has been compromised by Moscow, and he’s not exactly going out of his way to temper those fears.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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