Megyn Kelly goes nuclear and accuses Trump admin of feeding Axios a fake new war pretext
Megyn Kelly speaking with attendees at the 2023 Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Megyn Kelly isn't buying what the Trump administration is selling on Cuba — and she's mincing no words.

The conservative host used her Monday podcast to torch the administration over a weekend Axios report claiming Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and discussed attacking Guantanamo Bay, US naval vessels, and Key West.

"A threat. From Cuba. Which is basically imploding and not in a position to threaten anybody," she deadpanned to start her show. "But this is what they're going with."

Kelly said the article was transparently designed to manufacture a pretext for military action and noted Cuba "cannot even keep the lights on or the ICU units in their hospitals powered."

Kelly took a not-so-subtle shot at both Axios and the Trump administration, saying the outlet allowed itself to be fed a "bunch of bulls---."

"Cuba is not about to attack us!" Kelly told her audience flatly. "These are lies."

"This is an insult to our intelligence," she added.

Kelly was particularly sharp about the timing.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Havana last week, Kelly noted. The DOJ was reportedly preparing to indict 94-year-old Raul Castro this week, and Lindsey Graham has declared Cuba's days "numbered" on camera. The Axios report itself acknowledged, buried near the bottom, that U.S. officials "don't believe Cuba is an imminent threat" and that the intelligence describes contingency planning, not an active operation.

"Even Axios, thank God, had the sense of self-preservation enough to describe its own reporting as a possible 'pretext' to US military action," Kelly railed, adding "You gave your audience absolutely no context for the bunch of bulls--- you just heaped upon them."

She framed it as a familiar playbook as Trump grows increasingly frustrated that economic strangulation hasn't toppled the Cuban government fast enough, and the Pentagon began updating military action plans in response.

Kelly was joined by journalist Ryan Grim, who recently visited Cuba and said its officials told him on the record they would give the US "basically whatever" it wants in negotiations, making the military buildup look unnecessary by the administration's own stated objectives.

Trump himself has made no secret of his designs on the island, posting AI images of himself smoking Cuban cigars and declaring he'd have "the honor of taking Cuba."