OPINION:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a video address that the United States was sick and tired of the globalists at the International Criminal Court trying to steal away America’s sovereignty, as as such, was slapping sanctions on the entity.
And then the ICC put out a release saying no, don’t, you can’t do that — blah, blah, blah de blah dah.
The great thing about the Donald Trump White House is that nobody in the Donald Trump White House cares about crocodile tears from the elites in government.
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The ICC has stood atop its high perch for far too long, shaking its anti-America finger in disgust at those silly U.S. patriots who like to insist on sovereignty, and a Constitution and a sovereign, constitutional system of justice.
As Rubio put it: “[These] globalist experts an ocean away [seek] more power, and they want it at the expense of our sovereignty as a nation.”
Indeed they do.
The ICC, pretending to be the voice of justice for the world, has issued arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli defense officials for their military strikes in Gaza — strikes that came by way of defensive maneuvers from the horrific October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack against the Jewish nation. The ICC determined that yes, Israel has a right to defend itself, but that no, Israel can’t defend itself to the point of winning the war (the war it did not start). Israel, the ICC determined, could only win a little bit and then had to stand down and make peace with Hamas (despite the fact that Hamas would only make peace if Israel agreed to blow itself and its people off the face of the earth). That’s justice, the ICC determined.
The ICC has also dared to kick off investigations into U.S. citizens — all the while knowing its investigations and subsequent findings would be meaningless, save for the propaganda capabilities they give to those countries who don’t like America in the first place. Neither the United States nor Israel are parties to the ICC.
In 2025, Team Trump, fed up with the arrogance of the ICC, imposed sanctions on staff. Trump, at the time, said the ICC had drawn a “shameful moral equivalency” between Israel and Hamas by serving simultaneous arrest warrants on Netanyahu and a Hamas leader for war crimes. Trump said, too, at the time, the ICC’s actions “set a dangerous precedent” that threatened to “infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States.”
The ICC hasn’t learned its lesson. Apparently.
Rubio, in his message, now said the United States “will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their ability to operate against us. … Our message is clear: The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.”
Cue raucous applause track.
The sanctions, by way of the Treasury Department, serve as an order to those who engage in transactions with the ICC to cease and desist — meaning, those who provide operational support and maintenance, technology services, pension service and the like to the court now have six months to wrap and quit. The sanctions set the ICC on notice, too, that America will seize any of the global entity’s properties that are left in the United States, and claim any ICC assets that remain under U.S. control.
“This unprecedented step —“ the ICC whined.
“This measure targets an independent judicial institution —“ the ICC further whined.
“The Court, for its part, will not be deterred —“ the ICC even further whined, adding that “history will judge this moment,” and so, too, “future generations.”
Indeed.
So, too, Americans.
Did the ICC not get the message MAGA won?
And for at least two more years, at minimum, until Trump’s term has ended, that’s the way it will be.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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