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Make no mistake — Donald Trump’s words are carefully chosen

“America First” is Anti-American

Right Smack in the Middle
9 min readJun 29, 2020

“America First” is the most deceptive phrase in an era of dog-whistle politics. The slogan began in the 1880s but didn’t become popular until Woodrow Wilson used it as a way to keep the United States out of the war in 1915. He used America First as a way to navigate a complicated minefield of politics, essentially saying that America will lead the way by staying neutral.

Photo by Jose M. on Unsplash

Soon, the phrase became popular among isolationists and was later connected to fascist sympathizers, Ku Klux klan, and anti-immigration sentiments.

Association with Fascism

In the 1940s, the America First Committee was formed as a non-interventionist pressure group to keep America out of World War II. At its peak, the committee had 800,000 members, with the most famous member being aviator Charles Lindburgh. In 1938, before the inception of the committee, Lindbergh received the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. This was Germany’s highest honor and was given “in the name of the Fuhrer.”

The only other American to receive this award was Henry Ford. Ford also sat on the board of the America First Committee (AFC) and was a radical anti-Semite. Ford financially supported an…

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Right Smack in the Middle
Right Smack in the Middle

Written by Right Smack in the Middle

I’m a first generation Indian-American with brown skin, but that shouldn’t matter anyway. My politics are right smack in the middle.

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