Donald Trump’s drive to isolate the United States on the world stage took another startling turn last week when Secretary of State Marco Rubio openly promoted the CIA as a vehicle for destabilizing a foreign government. The appeal appeared not in some discreet diplomatic channel, but in a public post on X.

Rubio used the Friday post to encourage Cubans to “create the change you desire” by partnering with the CIA. The message landed as the Trump administration continues imposing sanctions that the column says are designed to fuel a national uprising in Cuba.

The pitch was not especially subtle. It sure sounded like “Come work with the CIA to help us topple your government,” an interpretation that helps explain the torrent of negative replies invoking the Bay of Pigs and talking about a potential “coup.”

The CIA’s use by American governments to undermine foreign governments and activist groups is hardly treated as a secret in the column. What made Rubio’s appeal particularly brazen was the decision to advertise such potential partnerships in full public view.

That leaves Cubans who might otherwise be receptive to the proposal with an obvious reason to question the administration’s judgment. Any government willing to broadcast such an invitation on Elon Musk’s platform is also revealing how casually it is handling a profoundly serious undertaking.

The platform itself was described in the column as filled with pornography and racism. Yet this was where Rubio chose to deliver an appeal asking people in Cuba to consider cooperating with an American intelligence agency against their own government.

That is not merely clumsy messaging. It is a public solicitation that places the administration’s regime change ambitions on display while leaving any potential Cuban partners to contemplate the consequences of being associated with them.

The risks would not necessarily disappear for Cubans already in the United States. Anyone without legal status who agreed to assist the administration in toppling Cuba’s government would still face the reality that Trump’s immigration officials could target them later.

Helping Trump’s CIA, in other words, would not guarantee protection from Trump’s immigration enforcement. The same administration asking for assistance against Cuba could still pursue people who answered its call, according to the warning presented in the column.

Former U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul offered another reason for Cubans to hesitate. He noted that Trump’s support for authoritarian figures elsewhere should give pause to anyone considering Rubio’s invitation to cooperate with the CIA.

The administration’s approach also clashes with any claim that Trump is acting from a consistent commitment to democratic principles. The column argues that Trump does not care about protecting those principles in the Western Hemisphere or anywhere else.

Trump’s administration has aligned itself with leaders described as authoritarian in style across Central America and South America. At the same time, it is eyeing regime change in Cuba and openly searching for people willing to help carry out that project.

That combination makes Rubio’s social media appeal look less like a principled stand for democracy and more like a glaringly public recruitment campaign. The administration is asking Cubans to place enormous trust in officials whose own conduct gives them ample reason to be skeptical.

The spectacle also exposes the contradiction at the center of the offer. Trump officials are inviting Cubans to take risks on behalf of an American administration that has compounded their suffering through sanctions and may offer no lasting security in return.

Rubio could hardly have made the administration’s intentions clearer if he had posted a recruitment notice. Instead of quiet diplomacy or careful outreach, Trump’s secretary of state delivered a public CIA pitch on X and invited the entire world to watch.

For an administration already accused of isolating the United States, the post offered another example of reckless foreign policy theater. It advertised a regime change agenda, inspired immediate coup comparisons and left prospective partners with every reason to doubt the people asking for their help.