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Simon Marks predicts what Trump's next move will be as the President skipped his son's wedding and cancelled a weekend of golf. The US has hit Cuba with an oil blockade, sanctions, and a murder indictment against former leader Raúl Castro after it accused the country of posing a national security threat. US intelligence has also reportedly claimed that Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and is "discussing plans to begin using them to attack a US base" - as two major shipping companies suspend all bookings to the island. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #simonmarks #donaldtrump #trump #uspolitics #cuba #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
Very difficult week, Ian, because he has essentially concocted a scheme to divert almost two billion dollars of taxpayer money to friends of his and supporters of his
0:14
including the insurrectionists who attempted on January the 6th, 2021, to overturn the outcome of Joe Biden's election victory by ransacking the Capitol building
0:26
this weaponisation fund that Trump essentially has forced his acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche
0:34
who just happens to be Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, is part of a quid pro quo that has seen Donald Trump drop
0:42
a $10 billion lawsuit against his own government for the 2017 leaking of some of his tax records to the public
0:52
He will now, as a result of dropping those lawsuits, enjoy total immunity from any kind of enforcement action relating to any of his past tax returns
1:04
the tax returns of his businesses, the tax returns of his two sons. But he also wants this almost
1:11
two billion dollars to be spent compensating people that he says were the victims of Joe Biden's
1:18
weaponised system of justice, and Republicans are recoiling from it. They were in open revolt this
1:26
week because they know, those of them that are up for re-election, heading back to their individual
1:31
states this weekend for the Memorial Day weekend, that they are going to get a monumental earful
1:37
on the doorstep. And their concern is that Donald Trump, this is one action of several over the last
1:43
few days that could see the Republicans lose control of Congress in the midterm elections in
1:48
November. Now apparently Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, is getting married this weekend
1:53
but his father's not going. I mean it gets stranger and stranger with Mr Trump doesn't it
1:59
He is not going Don Jr is in fact now remarried They married yesterday he and a Florida socialite Bettina Anderson in a small ceremony But there a big party in the Bahamas this weekend
2:14
And there was surprise here over the last few days. First of all, when the president said that he wasn't going to be attending the wedding
2:22
he argued that he was very busy, lots of stuff going on, important business of government
2:27
He cited Iran. Are you attending your son's wedding this weekend, by the way
2:31
He'd like me to go. But it's going to be just a small little private affair
2:37
And I'm going to try and make it. I'm in the midst. I said, you know, this is not good timing for me
2:43
I have a thing called Iran and other things. That's one I can't win on
2:48
If I do attend, I get killed. If I don't attend, I get killed
2:53
By the fake news, of course, I'm talking about. No. But he's got a very person who I've known for a long time
3:01
And hopefully they're going to have a great marriage. Then yesterday, more mystery when the president abruptly cancelled a plan
3:09
to spend the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey, saying that he needed to be here in Washington, D.C
3:15
All sorts of rumours. Is he thinking of returning to the military assault in Iran
3:21
Is he perhaps thinking of doing something down to try and topple the government in Cuba
3:26
Might we see something else taking place in Venezuela? The city is watching and waiting to see why he's decided not only to avoid the wedding, to swerve the wedding, but also to swerve a weekend that more normally he would have spent playing golf
3:43
I think you have to divide the answer into two different areas
3:49
There is what does the average American think about it and what does the Cuban exile community, mostly in the state of Florida, think about it
4:00
Two very different things. A lot of what is going on now between the Trump administration Marco Rubio in particular who one has to always remember whose parents came from Cuba originally you know they have been trying to secure a regime change or at least a change
4:23
in the type of government in Cuba for as long as anyone can remember
4:27
This is a pet project of Marco Rubio going back to when he was in the United States Senate
4:34
It's something that is dear to Donald Trump because he courted and succeeded in getting
4:40
a lot of the vote when he ran for president from that Cuban expat community in the state of Florida
4:46
So to answer your question, if one is a Cuban American, I think they are rooting this on
4:55
They want to see a change in Cuba. By that, I mean they want to see the elimination of the
5:01
communist government there. They want to see a return to private property there. They want
5:07
reparations if their families going, you know, back to the late 50s, early 60s, lost property
5:14
in Cuba to the communist government. If you ask the average American who is not of Cuban heritage and who does not live in
5:23
Florida, to be quite honest, probably it is not on their radar screen
5:27
Right now, most Americans are more concerned about the fact that they're paying a very
5:31
high price for gasoline and they're paying a high price for grocery items
5:35
And that's all because of Trump. And war, in this instance, in Iran, it's tanked his approval ratings
5:44
Is there a sense that he's going to double down that, okay, so Iran has crushed his numbers
5:51
but if I can liberate Cuba, in inverted commas, my numbers will rise
5:56
You know, that's an interesting observation, and the answer to that is very possibly yes
6:01
I mean, one of the things that Trump has been doing a lot is deflecting
6:06
You know, there's still people who think the entire war with Iran is because Trump wanted to deflect from the still ongoing Jeffrey Epstein, you know, story
6:16
I don't go that far in suggesting that. But I do think he is somebody who likes to constantly stir the pot constantly sort of change the narrative And yeah you know he not doing well on this war with Iran There no question about it
6:32
It's very unpopular with the American public. If we move on, if he moves on to Cuba
6:39
it kind of takes the headlines away from Iran, at least for a while
6:44
At least for a while. We should have a quick word about Tulsi Gabbard as well
6:49
Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, who famously gave a briefing in which he said that Iran wasn't posing a massive nuclear threat to the world
7:02
She has resigned. I understand it's primarily because her husband has been diagnosed with bone cancer, which is an awful disease
7:12
And I wish them both well. But there is also suggestion that the intelligence chief director of national intelligence has been under extreme pressure since those first strikes on Iran and was effectively forced to resign
7:26
Yeah, well, you know, two things, of course, can be true at the same time. They can, they can
7:30
You know, one is, yes, she says her husband has been diagnosed, unfortunately, with a rare, very rare form of bone cancer
7:42
And so understandably, she says she wants to spend more time with him
7:47
So that is one thing. It is also true that she is a former congresswoman
7:52
She is a former Democrat. And when she became a Republican, she is very anti, you know, foreign adventurism
8:02
And so if you look at what Mr. Trump has been up to, not only in Iran, but with his suggestions that Cuba may be next
8:12
Venezuela. Venezuela, you know, and who knows what's going to happen with Greenland, which is still there, and he still brings up every now and then
8:22
This is something that is anathema to her. And one does suspect that there has been a lot of tension between her just philosophical bent and that of her boss, Donald Trump
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