Just recently we wrote an editorial cautioning about the actions an angry, depressed, and desperate Donald Trump may take during the last days as president of the United States.
Now he seems to have made a move along these lines when he decided to put Cuba back in the list of states sponsoring terrorism. Take note that while it was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who made the announcement, it would not have been done so without the approval of the current US president.
The US and Cuba restored relations in 2015 in what was hailed as one the biggest breakthroughs in international relations in decades. Aside from opening up trade to a country that sorely needed it, it helped ease tensions in that particular area. We only have to remember the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 to remember how volatile that area can become.
In justifying their move, the Trump administration said they came to the decision to put Cuba back in the list “for repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists”.
However, the question many are asking is why only now? Trump was in office for the past three years, why only make this decision a scant few days before he is set to leave office? Did they notice Cuba’s purported behavior just now, or do they have something more sinister in mind for doing so?
The suspicious timing of such a major decision only leads some people to conclude Trump made it for no other reason than to add to the problems of democratic bet Joseph Biden when he assumes office in January 20.
Considering Trump’s behavior recently, it is not such a farfetched idea. It also just so happens that it was President Baracak Obama, another member of the Democratic Party, and whom Biden served under as vice president, who made the restoration of relations with Cuba possible.
Like we said earlier, the Americans should be watching Trump to make sure he doesn’t do anything the country or the world will come to regret.
It seems he has made one such decision. Who knows what else he will decide to do in the last few days of his presidency?