#56: The State Department on Cuba & Communism

For this week's episode, we discuss the State Department's recent report "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism", which was released three weeks ago.

Matt and Sam are joined by D, a lawyer with a wide-ranging practice in civil litigation and criminal defense, to talk about the political context the report is being released in, the myth-making operation its performing to influence both domestic and foreign policy, and the implications in its targeting of the National Lawyers Guild, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the People's Forum.

READINGS:

--"Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism" - The Department of State, 2026: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Cuba-Report.pdf

--"U.S. Squeezes Cuba Even as It Searches for a New Regime Leader" - Tyler PagerJulian E. Barnes and Frances Robles, 2026: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/07/us/politics/us-search-cuba-leader.html

--"Remarks at the Opening of the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism" - Scott Bessent, Christopher Landau, Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, 2026: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/07/remarks-at-the-opening-of-the-ministerial-on-the-resurgence-of-political-terrorism

--"Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence" - Donald J. Trump, 2025: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/