Secretary of State Marco Rubio made plain what every patriotic American already knows: we would “love” to see the regime in Cuba replaced by a government that respects freedom and human dignity. His blunt answer came during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing when Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz demanded a public pledge to rule out “regime change,” and Rubio refused to be shamed into silence. The moment exposed the left’s reflexive guilt over standing for liberty and showed again that conservatives will speak truth about tyrants.
Rubio’s candor wasn’t just bravado; it’s personal and principled. As the son of Cuban exiles and now America’s top diplomat on Western Hemisphere policy, he has every right to call out Havana’s failures and to argue that freedom for Cubans is both morally correct and strategically sound. His testimony reminded the nation that standing with the oppressed is not reckless adventurism but the core of American foreign policy when used wisely.
Democrats like Schatz tried to corner Rubio by equating any desire for a freer Cuba with automatic military intervention, as if wishing for liberty is synonymous with declaring war. Rubio rightly pushed back, emphasizing that wanting a change in regime does not automatically translate into immediate kinetic action, and that prudent policy can wield many tools—diplomacy, economic pressure, and legal levers—before the use of force. It was a masterclass in refusing to be gaslit by partisan theater while keeping America’s options on the table.
Context matters: this hearing followed bold U.S. actions in Venezuela, including the January 3 operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power and sent a clear message to Havana and Caracas alike about consequences for narco-authoritarianism. Rubio made clear the administration is not looking for needless war, but it will not hesitate to defend American interests or exploit openings to advance liberty in our hemisphere. That measured yet firm posture is exactly what Americans should expect from their leaders.
There’s also a legal and policy framework behind Rubio’s stance: U.S. law and past sanctions regimes have long aimed to pressure the Castro model so that Cubans can choose their own destinies, and Congress has crafted tools specifically to deter foreign investment that props up dictators. Conservatives understand that the goal of policy should be to hasten peaceful transitions to self-government and market reform, not to apologize for the consequences of tyranny. If Democrats spent less time policing rhetoric and more time defending human rights, they might actually earn the trust of voters who care about both liberty and realism.
Patriots should applaud a secretary of state who speaks plainly and refuses to sacri?ce American principles on the altar of political correctness. Marco Rubio’s testimony was a reminder that strength and moral clarity are not mutually exclusive, and that supporting freedom abroad is consistent with protecting our interests at home. Let the left continue to shriek about “regime change” as a bogeyman while conservatives get to work using every lawful, strategic means to topple tyranny and expand liberty for ordinary people.
