Marco Rubio lives in a fantasy world. Athens was defeated in the Peloponnesian Wars by Sparta following rebellions from states within the Delian League. Rubio's version of history is linear and rediculous, and in his revisionism he betrays his own lack of intelligence: "“We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was lit here millennia ago,” Rubio said, pointing to positive tendencies including increases in European defense spending, expanded manufacturing and production, and a “flurry” of new partnerships and programs.
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To bolster his case, Rubio delivered a selective reading of history from antiquity to the present, saying that the values of the Ancient Greeks imbued those of later scientists and explorers, including some controversial choices including Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, whose legacies are associated with the subjugation of Latin America. But Rubio said they, as well as many others, carried a frontier spirit that was born in antiquity. “The greatest Americans of every generation have carried the unmistakable features of their forefathers – born in Athens, formed by Rome, baptized in Christendom, hardened in the furnace of medieval Europe, endowed with the English genius for liberty, and then carried across the Atlantic to be reborn on the shores of a new world,” he said." His White Power rhetoric isn't even historically accurate. "From its inception, Athens became the League's biggest source of military power, while more and more allies preferred to pay their dues in cash. Athens began to use the League's funds for its own purposes, like the reinforcement of its naval supremacy, which led to conflicts with the less powerful allies, at times culminating in rebellions, like that of Thasos in 465 BC." Classical Athens fell in stages rather than on a single date, marked by its military defeat in 404 BC at the end of the Peloponnesian War, and the end of the Classical period in 323 BC–322 BC with the rise of Macedonian control. Sounds oddly familiar.... theguardian.com/us-news/2026/o…
