That includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who recently said this during an interview: “This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.”
In that same Meet the Press interview, Rubio said the word “hemisphere” six additional times, usually in reference to preserving the security of this entire chunk of the planet.
Shortly after, the official State Department account posted the following tweet: “This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened.”
The Western Hemisphere encompasses North America, South America, and parts of Europe, Asia, Antarctica, and Africa.
Online, many people are saying the same thing about the State Department’s post, and that is, “YIKES!”
“They went from ‘America First’ to ‘Our half of the planet’ so fast,” one tweet reads.
Another person responded directly to the State Department’s account, asking, “Is this account run by a 5 year old?”
And in response to the “this is OUR hemisphere” bit, one replied, “No, it isn’t. We don’t dictate to the world. Get your own house in order, stop violating other nations’ sovereignty!”
And lastly, another wrote, “No it’s not. The USA belongs to the USA, the rest belongs to other people. Petrifying imperialistic claim.”
Take a shot every time a government official says “Western Hemisphere” this week. Or, actually, don’t do that — Hall of Fame for bad ideas. Thoughts???