Gov. Greg Abbott tells woman to ‘go back to Australia’ on social media

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday told a woman to “go back to Australia” in an online post after she shared a video commenting on how U.S. residents seem to fly their national flag more often than people in other countries.

In a TikTok clip, Australian resident Mia Chloe, whose username is @meanderwithmedia, opined on Americans’ oversharing of Old Glory. The travel influencer wrote on account bio that she was “traveling the world on a budget and no brain cells,” according to Fox News.

“I’m just going to say it: there are too many flags in America,” Chloe said in her assessment. “They’re on houses. They’re on cars. Some are on couch cushions. You’re the only country that I know that does this.”

By way of comparison, she noted that only time she could remember seeing the Australian flag in her home country was waving atop the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Chloe isn’t alone in her observation of U.S. residents’ national pride. People here were the most likely to say they live in “the best country in the world,” according to a 2019 report from the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project.

Nonetheless, Texas’ Republican governor took time out of his busy schedule to express his disgust at the TikToker’s observation on American culture by commenting about it on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. He followed up his admonishment for her to head back to her homeland with eight American flags — presumably to make sure she got the point.

Abbott’s tweet appears to have invited harassment from others on the platform.

“Brain damage from hair dye,” said user @anniecalif, whose feed is full of tweets espousing right-wing conspiracy theories.

“Assimilate or leave,” quipped @xgenden, a self-described pro-national sovereignty veteran.

Chloe has since reportedly deleted her TikToK account since facing the wrath of the Texas governor, according to the New York Post.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed

Related Stories

Ted Cruz ridiculed for telling CNN to leave the U.S. over one of its travel stories

Predictably, many responses brought up Cruz’s decision to flee to Mexico during Winter Storm Uri.

Mexican President blasts Gov. Greg Abbott over anti-immigration buoys

Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador called the border barrier ‘inhumane’ and a violation of U.S.-Mexico treaties.

British paper mocked for calling Texas A&M a ‘military college’ in the ‘hinterlands’

The description came in a film review of Netflix’s new documentary on the rise and fall of Johnny Manziel.

This article appears in Aug 9-22, 2023.