Remember the planet before America started invading parts of it? God, what a shithole. Just a total mess. Since then, though: pretty much perfect, right? That's the improbable assessment Fox News' Charles Payne delivered on Sunday while discussing criticism of American Sniper.

"It's a pretty simple thing, you watch the movie, he saved American lives," said Payne of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. "And he went through a tough struggle to do it, but it was a job that had to be done." A mostly empty if not unfamiliar sentiment about the war in Iraq. Payne, however, was just getting started:

Look at the death toll that we had protecting people in a different country because that's what America does. We've been the world's policeman, and guess what's happened over the time we've become the world's policeman?

A billion people in other countries have moved into the middle class. We had India on TV earlier. If it wasn't for Americans dying around the world, the rest of the world would be in abject poverty.

"We have saved the planet," concluded Payne, "and if we go away as [the world's] policeman, it's going to be hell to pay for everyone."

In most places—including the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal—America's role as "the world's policeman" is treated as a question, but to the Fox Business host, it's just a neat fact. In case you were having trouble keeping track, here are all the accomplishments Payne attributes to American interventionism:

  • A billion people moving into the middle class
  • India being on TV
  • The rest of the world staying out of (?) abject poverty
  • The planet's salvation

"So true," agreed co-host Anna Kooiman.

[h/t Raw Story]