Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
This feels like a quiet policy shift.
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February 24, 2026
Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
The secretary of state has provoked the ire of Britain’s first black woman lawmaker and put the spotlight once again on how the US has historically treated people of his own heritage.
Steve Howell
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits down for an interview with Bloomberg Television during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on February 14, 2026.(Alex Kraus / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
From claiming the mantle of McKinley to issuing a “corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, the Trump administration has never been bashful about asserting what it perceives as its place in history. Marco Rubio took this to a new level recently with an assertion at a security conference in Munich that the US and Europe are engaged in an existential battle with “the forces of civilizational erasure.”
Reinforcing this message last week, the State Department posted a photograph of Rubio on X with the message: “The United States and Europe belong to a civilization that stretches over continents, crossed over oceans, and persisted for thousands of years: from Athens to Rome to America. Western Civilization must embrace its noble legacy if it is to reverse its decline.”
This drew a sharp rebuke from Britain’s first black woman lawmaker. Diane Abbott, who holds the title Mother of the House as the longest-serving female member of Parliament, accused Rubio of “trying to forge a white supremacist version of human history” and said: “Language was first spoken in Africa. Language was first written in West Asia. Mathematics originated in Africa, so too the first translation. The first 2-storey building was also in built in Asia.”
In his Munich speech, Rubio had described colonialism as “a great civilization” that had sent “its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.” To resounding applause, he told European leaders that America would always be “a child of Europe” and then illustrated this with a curious collection of examples.
Credited in turn were the Italians for Christianity, the English for their language and political and legal system, the Germans for farming and beer, the French for exploring the North American interior, and the Scots-Irish for Davy Crocket, Teddy Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, and Mark Twain (evidently, overlooking the latter’s opposition to imperialism).
Predictably, of course, there was no place in this fairy tale for Indigenous nations who had been ethnically cleansed to make way for colonization. Nor was …
This feels like a quiet policy shift.
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Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
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Current Issue
February 24, 2026
Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
The secretary of state has provoked the ire of Britain’s first black woman lawmaker and put the spotlight once again on how the US has historically treated people of his own heritage.
Steve Howell
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits down for an interview with Bloomberg Television during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on February 14, 2026.(Alex Kraus / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
From claiming the mantle of McKinley to issuing a “corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, the Trump administration has never been bashful about asserting what it perceives as its place in history. Marco Rubio took this to a new level recently with an assertion at a security conference in Munich that the US and Europe are engaged in an existential battle with “the forces of civilizational erasure.”
Reinforcing this message last week, the State Department posted a photograph of Rubio on X with the message: “The United States and Europe belong to a civilization that stretches over continents, crossed over oceans, and persisted for thousands of years: from Athens to Rome to America. Western Civilization must embrace its noble legacy if it is to reverse its decline.”
This drew a sharp rebuke from Britain’s first black woman lawmaker. Diane Abbott, who holds the title Mother of the House as the longest-serving female member of Parliament, accused Rubio of “trying to forge a white supremacist version of human history” and said: “Language was first spoken in Africa. Language was first written in West Asia. Mathematics originated in Africa, so too the first translation. The first 2-storey building was also in built in Asia.”
In his Munich speech, Rubio had described colonialism as “a great civilization” that had sent “its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.” To resounding applause, he told European leaders that America would always be “a child of Europe” and then illustrated this with a curious collection of examples.
Credited in turn were the Italians for Christianity, the English for their language and political and legal system, the Germans for farming and beer, the French for exploring the North American interior, and the Scots-Irish for Davy Crocket, Teddy Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, and Mark Twain (evidently, overlooking the latter’s opposition to imperialism).
Predictably, of course, there was no place in this fairy tale for Indigenous nations who had been ethnically cleansed to make way for colonization. Nor was …
Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
This feels like a quiet policy shift.
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Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
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Current Issue
February 24, 2026
Rubio, Rodeo, and Tall Tales of Empire
The secretary of state has provoked the ire of Britain’s first black woman lawmaker and put the spotlight once again on how the US has historically treated people of his own heritage.
Steve Howell
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits down for an interview with Bloomberg Television during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on February 14, 2026.(Alex Kraus / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
From claiming the mantle of McKinley to issuing a “corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, the Trump administration has never been bashful about asserting what it perceives as its place in history. Marco Rubio took this to a new level recently with an assertion at a security conference in Munich that the US and Europe are engaged in an existential battle with “the forces of civilizational erasure.”
Reinforcing this message last week, the State Department posted a photograph of Rubio on X with the message: “The United States and Europe belong to a civilization that stretches over continents, crossed over oceans, and persisted for thousands of years: from Athens to Rome to America. Western Civilization must embrace its noble legacy if it is to reverse its decline.”
This drew a sharp rebuke from Britain’s first black woman lawmaker. Diane Abbott, who holds the title Mother of the House as the longest-serving female member of Parliament, accused Rubio of “trying to forge a white supremacist version of human history” and said: “Language was first spoken in Africa. Language was first written in West Asia. Mathematics originated in Africa, so too the first translation. The first 2-storey building was also in built in Asia.”
In his Munich speech, Rubio had described colonialism as “a great civilization” that had sent “its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.” To resounding applause, he told European leaders that America would always be “a child of Europe” and then illustrated this with a curious collection of examples.
Credited in turn were the Italians for Christianity, the English for their language and political and legal system, the Germans for farming and beer, the French for exploring the North American interior, and the Scots-Irish for Davy Crocket, Teddy Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, and Mark Twain (evidently, overlooking the latter’s opposition to imperialism).
Predictably, of course, there was no place in this fairy tale for Indigenous nations who had been ethnically cleansed to make way for colonization. Nor was …
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