Is it the panic or the pushback? The conspiracy theory or the coincidence? The homophone or the iPhone?
Whatever it is, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) stepped face-first into the zeitgeist with just a handful of loose change while bidding for steeply-priced caution—trying to calm people down by casually referring to many Americans’ absolute worst fears: Martial law. He didn’t spell it that way, though.
“Please stop spreading stupid rumors about marshall law,” the senior Sunshine State senator tweeted late Monday morning.
Was it an homage to our 45th president’s proclivity for the oddly-placed typo? Speech-to-text gone awry? Or did Sen. Rubio not know it was “martial” and not “marshall”? Suspend those questions for now.
Rubio also did the thing that’s proven to totally soothe fractured and fractious nerves: He used all caps.
“We will continue to see closings [and] restrictions on hours of non-essential businesses in certain cities [and] states,” Rubio continued—using the phrase again. “But that is NOT marshall law.”
The Twitterverse exploded with mentions of laws both martial and Marshall.
But, with the full force of internet-speed evolution, a true meme was born as verbal dexterity and wordplay took the reins.
An economist sensed an opening.
A cartoonist offered a history lesson.
A dictionary helped clear things up.
A journalist referenced a justice.
Another journalist referenced a meme.
A podcaster set progress back by referencing a comic book.
There were video game references, too:
There was also this:
[image via Samuel Corum/Getty Images]