Dr. David D. Schein examines Cuba's communist legacy, a new U.S. government warning about Cuban influence, and broader debates over ideology inside universities, the Smithsonian, professional organizations, and American public life.
Cuba sits less than 100 miles from Florida, yet for more than six decades it has remained one of the most persistent ideological and foreign-policy disputes in the Western Hemisphere.
In this Saving America report, Dr. David D. Schein uses Cuba’s history under communist rule as the starting point for a much broader argument. He connects the island’s political and economic decline to U.S. concerns about foreign influence, ideological movements inside American institutions, the way national history is presented, and the role of professional organizations such as the American Bar Association.
The result is not simply an episode about Cuba. It is an argument about institutions, political ideology, education, and what Americans should do when they believe important civic organizations have moved away from their original missions.
Dr. Dave begins with the transformation of Cuba after Fidel Castro’s 1959 takeover. He contrasts the island’s earlier reputation as a tourist destination with the decades of political repression, economic hardship, migration, and dependence on foreign patrons that followed.
His central claim is direct: he views Cuba as a long-running example of the failure of communist government and centrally controlled political power.
That argument fits a broader theme already present in the DDSA archive. In Communism Is Stupid and Dangerous. History Keeps Proving It, Dr. Dave examines why communist and socialist promises can remain politically attractive despite historical examples of concentrated state power and economic failure.
DDSA has also covered Cuba directly before. The earlier episode Cuba, Pelosi, and Eagle Claws provides additional background on Cuba in American politics and foreign policy.
The episode revisits the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and Dr. Dave’s criticism of the Kennedy administration’s handling of the operation. He argues that the failure strengthened Castro’s position and pushed Cuba even closer to the Soviet Union.
That relationship made Cuba strategically important during the Cold War and helped set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dr. Dave also discusses his own view of the missile crisis and the possibility that Soviet military capabilities in Cuba were more complicated than the conventional public story suggests.
Those portions of the episode are commentary and interpretation. The larger historical point is that Cuba’s location made it valuable to the Soviet Union as a political, military, and intelligence partner close to the United States.
Dr. Dave then turns to a new U.S. government report describing alleged Cuban espionage, political influence, and efforts to cultivate sympathetic networks in the United States.
He argues that Cuba’s inability to compete with the United States economically or militarily makes influence operations especially important to the regime. In his view, the effort is part of a long-term strategy that places particular emphasis on political organizations, universities, activist networks, and other institutions capable of shaping public opinion.
The report and the administration’s interpretation of Cuban activity are politically contested. Dr. Dave accepts the government’s warning as evidence that Americans should take the issue seriously, while critics of the administration have questioned how broadly some of those claims should be interpreted.
For a wider comparison with another authoritarian rival, readers can also review China, the CCP and America’s Foreign Policy Reality Check.
The episode broadens from foreign influence to the way American institutions present history and civic identity.
Dr. Dave discusses a 2026 Domestic Policy Council report criticizing the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The White House report argues that ideological frameworks had become too influential in the museum’s presentation of American history and called for changes in how the nation’s heritage is interpreted.
Readers who want to examine the source directly can review the White House report Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage.
Dr. Dave says the report matches his own experience visiting the museum. He describes reading exhibit material that he believed presented American history through an unnecessarily negative ideological framework.
The final major section of the episode focuses on the legal profession.
Dr. Dave discusses congressional scrutiny of the American Bar Association and its role in law-school accreditation. His concern is that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies can conflict with academic and professional standards when schools or accrediting bodies place identity-based goals ahead of merit, preparation, and performance.
He speaks from the perspective of an attorney with nearly five decades in the profession and a former long-term ABA member. His argument is that law is highly competitive and that clients expect attorneys to be selected, trained, and evaluated according to demanding professional standards.
This issue connects to broader DDSA coverage of workplace and institutional policy. In Whole Foods & BLM Apparel, Dr. Dave examines the interaction between workplace rules, expression, and employment law.
No. In the transcript, Dr. Dave explicitly says he cannot directly tie every ideological development he criticizes to Cuban influence.
Instead, he presents a broader theory: foreign ideological campaigns, domestic political movements, universities, nonprofits, cultural institutions, and professional organizations can reinforce one another over time.
That distinction matters. The episode is strongest when read as an argument about influence and institutional vulnerability rather than as a claim that one foreign government caused every political or cultural development Dr. Dave opposes.
Dr. Dave’s conclusion is civic rather than merely geopolitical.
He urges parents to become more involved in K-12 education, students and families to pay attention to the culture and standards of universities, professionals to challenge organizations they believe have lost focus, and voters to participate in both primary and general elections.
His underlying point is that institutions change when engaged people organize, participate, vote, donate, serve on boards, attend meetings, and demand accountability.
This episode brings together several issues that are usually discussed separately: Cuba, communism, espionage, universities, museums, professional accreditation, DEI, and electoral participation.
Dr. Dave’s argument is that they share a common question: who shapes the institutions that transmit values, history, professional standards, and political ideas?
Viewers may agree or disagree with his conclusions, but the episode asks a useful civic question. If Americans believe an institution is moving in the wrong direction, are they willing to participate in changing it?
Watch the full Saving America report: Cuba, Communism and America’s Institutions
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