The primary slogan of the Trump movement is the simple, now-iconic appeal to “Make America Great Again.” Indeed, “MAGA” is so ubiquitous that it is now a metonym for the movement itself. But if the Trump movement has a second catchphrase after “MAGA,” it would be “America First.” Donald Trump himself routinely vows that he is an “America First” politician. Myriad Republican congressional candidates now tout themselves as “America First,” typically with an eye toward securing a coveted Trump endorsement. And many prominent conservative commentators, often with close ties to Trump’s orbit, frequently beat the drums of “America First.”
But what exactly is meant by “America First”?
Indeed, because it is such a basic analytical prism, “America First” does not necessarily get us very far when it comes to making actual foreign policy decisions. Any sober, national interest-centered foreign policy should look skeptically at ideological interventionism, whether it takes the form of dogged neoconservatism or starry-eyed liberal humanitarianism. Crucially, however, “America First” should look just as skeptically at ideologically driven foreign policy from the other end of the spectrum—meaning, doctrinaire isolationism.
Unfortunately, many voices on the Right now clamoring the loudest for “America First,” such as Tucker Carlson, either outright ignore or fail to grasp and appreciate such nuances. They conveniently overlook Trump’s actual presidential record, preferring instead to retcon history and conflate Trump-style “America First” with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)-style ideological isolationism. This is a disservice to the public discourse at best, and it is deceitful at worst.
There is nothing “America First” about mindlessly toppling foreign autocracies and seeking to transmogrify Islamist hellholes into shining Madisonian democracies. But there is also nothing “America First” about shirking our solemn duty to protect and defend our own citizens and soldiers overseas. Many now touting their “America First” bona fides sound a lot less like Donald Trump, who boasted of “defeating ISIS” on the 2020 campaign trail and installed fresh missile defense systems in Central and Eastern Europe to keep Vladimir Putin at bay, and a lot more like Charles Lindbergh and the “America First Committee” of old.
It is a rather curious conception of “America First” that would disavow any American interest in the very slaughter of its own citizens and soldiers overseas. The nation-building boondoggles of yesterday resulted in failure—indeed, the entire enterprise has been discredited. But basic, “peace through strength”-style deterrence is a timeless necessity. Caring about the fate of our citizens taken hostage overseas and seeking retaliation for our soldiers murdered by an evil adversary regime overseas, moreover, is about the lowest-hanging fruit imaginable for any American who calls himself a patriot.
It really doesn’t get much more “America First” than that.