I Hereby Apologise on Behalf of My Fellow Countrymen for This Gross Disrespect and Am Firm in My Opinion That a Man of His Status Should Have Been Saluted with a Mass Whakapohane*

Following Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accords, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited New Zealand, and the crowds lining the route of his motorcade were rather demonstrative:

The weather was awful and the mood of the locals wasn't much better when US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson​ arrived in Wellington.

US media travelling with Tillerson were surprised by the number of people flipping the bird at Tillerson as his motorcade sped through town.

New York Times correspondent Gardiner Harris said he had been in a lot of motorcades but even he was taken back by the negative reaction.

"I've been in motorcades for a couple of years now ... I've never seen so many people flip the bird at an American motorcade as I saw today," Harris said.

I am amused.

^*Not my line. It was spoken by JH at the Stellar Parthenon BBS is native New Zealander, and the term "Whakapohane" refers to the Maori practice of baring ones buttocks as an expression of contempt .