MS NOW’s Daniels: ‘It’s Their Country’ on Cuba — But Not Apartheid South Africa

On Saturday's episode of MS NOW's The Weekend, co-host Eugene Daniels offered a revealing defense of the Cuban regime:

"It's their country, so them deciding what kind of government and political system they want to have, the leaders and the folks in that country, is their business, I think a lot of people would say."

This is the standard sovereignty shield used to protect dictatorships. Daniels ignored that Cuba has been ruled by communist tyrants since 1959, with no free elections and a long record of suppressing "the folks." If those "folks" had a chance to express themselves in a free and fair referendum, does Daniels doubt the great majority would choose freedom?

The selective outrage was especially clear when Daniels mocked Secretary of State Marco Rubio for being “obsessed” with liberating Cuba — a lifelong passion rooted in his family’s exile experience.

Would Daniels, born in 1989, have used that same mocking tone toward Reverend Jesse Jackson? In 1984, Jackson delivered a fiery speech at the United Nations explicitly calling for strict sanctions against South Africa and demanding that U.S. corporations immediately divest and pull out of the country. Was Jackson “obsessed”? 

Rhetorical questions, because Daniels and his colleagues surely would not have used that dismissive language against Jackson or other black leaders who aggressively pushed for external pressure to end apartheid. Yet when it comes to Marco Rubio and Cuba, the mockery flows freely.

The ideological double standard is glaring. When it comes to a communist dictatorship oppressing Cubans for 66 years, MS NOW shrugs and says “it’s their country.” When it was white minority rule in South Africa, external pressure and sanctions were not just justified — they were morally required.

At the close of the segment, co-host Jonathan Capehart warned against testing the Cuban foreign minister’s threat of a “bloodbath” should the US intervene militarily. Capehart apparently believes that U.S. policy should be shaped by saber-rattling from a two-bit tyrant just 90 miles from our shores.

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
The Weekend
5/30/26
7:42 am EDT

ANTHONY COLEY: David, there is another hotspot developing in the country. I'm going to take you over to Cuba. I think there is a real humanitarian crisis there. Can you take us into your reporting on what you're hearing both about the humanitarian crisis and about the possibility of military strikes there? 

DAVID ROHDE: Yeah, the humanitarian crisis is really severe there. To be fair, part of that is the fault of the Cuban government, which has, I think, mismanaged the economy. There's also a U.S. boycott, and the U.S., under the Trump administration, has cut off oil shipments. Our colleague, Antonia Hylton, interviewed the Cuban foreign minister this week. 

And it was interesting because, again, there was thinking that there was negotiations that were reducing tensions there. And at least in that interview, the foreign minister was really aggressive, and complaining about the U.S., saying that the blocking of oil and other supplies to the country was creating this terrible humanitarian crisis. 

That's true, but he specifically attacked Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said that while they say certain things in private, American officials, Rubio is saying very different things in public. Accused him of being disingenuous. So that's concerning. 

I don't think the United States at this point, the administration wants to launch a military operation in the second part of the world. For now, they want to pressure the Cuban regime economically, and try to sort of pull off, have a new leader emerge like Delcy Rodriguez, who will essentially do what the administration wants in Cuba. That leader hasn't emerged either, but I don't think we've seen, I don't see an imminent military action by the U.S. in Cuba right now. 

EUGENE DANIELS: David, you mentioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I want to play what he said on Wednesday at the White House during the Cabinet meeting, about Cuba. 

MARCO RUBIO: Cuba's in a lot of trouble because, unfortunately for them, it's run by a bunch of incompetent communists. And being communist is bad. Being an incompetent communist is, like, the worst. So we'll be talking to them. We'll be working on it. You know, we want something good for the Cuban people. And hopefully there'll be a good outcome there for them. There needs to be. It's 90 miles from our shores. And having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States. 

DANIELS: It's their country, so them deciding what kind of government and political system they want to have, the leaders and the folks in that country, is their business, I think a lot of people would say. 

I will also say Marco Rubio has been, has his entire life, been kind of obsessed with overthrowing -- he literally wrote in his book, American Son, when he was running for office, basically that as a kid, he would have these fantasies where he was someone who would charge the gates and save the Cuban people. 

. . . 

JONATHAN CAPEHART: And as the Cuban foreign minister told Antonia Hylton, and I quote, "If Cuba were attacked, it would have to defend itself. It would lead to bloodbath, the death of thousands of Cubans, and also the deaths of young Americans."

That could be saber rattling, but who wants to test that proposition?