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The Ugly Origins of Trump’s “America First” Policy
With this phrase, the former president is connecting himself to the Ku Klux Klan and outright fascist movements. By Lawrence S. Wittner | March 19, 2024
People’s choice of words can be revealing. That’s certainly the case with respect to one of Donald Trump’s favorite slogans, “America First.”
In April 2016, Trump initially used the term in a campaign speech, proclaiming that “America First” would be “the major and overriding theme of my administration.” The following year, in his inaugural address, he promised that “a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first―America first.” Subsequently, he has employed the slogan frequently to describe his approach to foreign and domestic policy.
This approach is remarkable because, over the past century, “America First” has acquired some very unsavory connotations.
Although the seemingly innocent slogan goes back deep in American history, it began to develop a racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic tone after World War I. The Ku Klux Klan, which surged to some five million members at that time, employed it frequently for its terrorist mobilizations. Like the Klan, nativist groups took up “America First” as they used racist, eugenicist claims to press, successfully, for U.S. government restrictions on immigration. Appealing to an overheated nationalism, William Randolph Hearst used his newspaper empire to campaign, successfully, against U.S. participation in the League of Nations. Soon thereafter, he became a booster of other nationalist fanatics, the rising fascist powers.
Hearst’s newspapers, with “America First” emblazoned on their masthead, celebrated what they called the “great achievement” of the new Nazi regime in Germany. In 1934, Hearst himself scurried off to Berlin to interview Adolf Hitler. Instructing his reporters in Germany to provide positive coverage of the Nazis, Hearst fired journalists who failed to do so. Meanwhile, the Hearst press ran columns, without rebuttal, by Hitler, Mussolini, and Nazi leader Hermann Göring.
This toxic brew of racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia increasingly found its way into a growing isolationist movement that crested in 1940 with the establishment of the America First Committee. Bankrolled by several top corporate leaders, the America First Committee was determined to prevent the United States from becoming involved in what it labeled, disparagingly, “Europe’s wars.” And as fascist military forces swept from triumph to triumph, it emerged as America’s largest isolationist organization. Although the 800,000 America First members had a variety of political opinions, many of them held anti-Semitic views and sympathized with the Nazis.
Henry Ford, for example, a member of the America First executive committee, was a major backer of anti-Semitic and racist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan. Purchasing a Michigan newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, he used it to publish articles promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as the idea that Jews controlled the American financial system, that they started World War I, and that they were plotting to rule the world. The newspaper eventually acquired a circulation of nearly a million thanks to Ford’s requirement that his car dealers distribute it. Ford has the distinction of being the only American Hitler complimented in Mein Kampf.
The most prominent leader of the America First Committee was Charles Lindbergh, who―thanks to his celebrated solo flight over the Atlantic―was also one of the best-known Americans of the era. Hitler, Lindbergh believed, was “a visionary” and “undoubtedly a great man.” Visiting Nazi Germany, Lindbergh liked its professed values―what he called “science and technology harnessed for the preservation of a superior race.” Increasingly, he thought that the “strong central leadership of the Nazi state was the only hope for restoring a moral world order.” Addressing reporters, he said that he was “intensely pleased” by all he had seen while in Germany. By contrast, like other anti-Semites, he fretted over “the Jewish problem,” and blamed Jews for the shattered German economy that followed World War I. In 1938, Field Marshall Göring presented Lindbergh with a medal on behalf of the Führer.
Even after Hitler violated the Munich Pact by dispatching his troops to conquer all of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Lindbergh thought Hitler’s justification plausible, and argued that France and Britain should form an alliance with the Third Reich. “It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again,” he declared. “Our future depends on . . . a Western Wall of race and arms which can hold back . . . the infiltration of inferior blood.” Returning from his European travels to the United States, Lindbergh argued that it was “imperative” for “the sake of Western civilization that America stay out of Germany’s way as [it] guarded against the West’s true enemies”―the “Asiatic hordes” of Russia, China, and Japan.
That September, with the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Lindbergh became America’s foremost isolationist, telling a radio audience: “Our bond with Europe is a bond of race…It is the European race we must preserve…If the white race is ever…threatened, it may then be time for us to take our part in its protection, to fight side by side with the English, French, and Germans, but not with one against the other for our mutual destruction.” Only after Japan’s devastating attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 did Lindbergh and the America First Committee shut down their isolationist campaign.
Given this record, when Trump revived the “America First” slogan, the Anti-Defamation League urged him to reconsider, pointing to the slogan’s bigoted and pro-Nazi history.
But Trump has continued to invoke “America First” in his statements.
Why? It’s clear that he agrees with this slogan’s connotations. After all, Trump’s top emphases have been barring and deporting minority group immigrants from the United States, attacking “migrant crime,” inflaming Christian Nationalism, and ridiculing international cooperation and organizations. When one adds his obsession with genetic superiority and blood purity, plus his admiration for dictators, it’s an all too familiar pattern.
Indeed, Trump is the heir to America First and its fascist proclivities.
https://fpif.org/the-ugly-origins-of-trumps-america-first-policy/
They started swarming across America’s border, millions of desperate families fleeing poverty or seeking political asylum.
Donald Trump calls migrants 'animals' during US-Mexico border speech.But many people were repelled by their presence. Some warned that the country was facing a “genetic invasion” and that whites were “losing the demographic game.” Another said, “There will no longer be an America for Americans.”Trump says some undocumented immigrants are ‘not people,’ warns US will see ‘bloodbath’ if not reeled in.One leader even thought of a radical way to keep them out.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6736015/“Can we build a wall high enough around this country so as to keep out these cheaper races?” he asked. They started swarming across America’s border, millions of desperate families fleeing poverty or seeking political asylum.https://www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=16758Trump promises to stop Southern border ‘invasion’That scenario may sound familiar, but it’s actually a description of early 20th century America. The country was gripped by a demographic panic. That fear, along with mounting anxieties about crime and poverty, led to one of the most shameful episodes in American history.When Americans tried to breed a better race: How a genetic fitness ‘crusade’ marches on...Donald Trump full speech announcing plan to build Mexico border wall.Why eugenics was so seductive.Behind every movement there’s a powerful personality. The eugenics crusade had Charles Davenport, a slender, Ivy League-educated scientist whose dignified demeanor exuded an air of authority. The PBS film shows why Davenport was the right man to spread the wrong idea.He was ambitious, a shrewd manipulator of the media, and he knew how to attract the support of wealthy patrons to spread his eugenics ideas to powerful politicians. It was Davenport who called for a wall to be built around America to keep out the “cheaper races.”Davenport was inspired by the work of Sir Francis Galton, who is credited with starting the eugenics movement during the late 19th century. A cousin of the famed naturalist Charles Darwin, Galton theorized that humans could control their own evolution. His proposal: Pair the most intelligent and fit so that their children would boost the “breeding stock” of the human race.Davenport was president of the American Society of Zoologists in 1907 and 1929. In 1910 he founded the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, and he appointed Harry H. Laughlin to direct it.That proposition, of course, led to the next question: What do we do about those deemed not fit or intelligent? The eugenics crusade provided a monstrous answer: Ban them from reproducing.The solution was so seductive because it bore the authority of science. The America of the early 20th century was torn by social ills: massive inequality, urban squalor, tensions over immigration.Eugenics gave reformers a scientific answer to these problems. If social ills were caused by “feebleminded” people with bad genes, as many eugenics champions argued, why not make the world better by eliminating bad genes?“Just as we have strains of scholars, military men, we have strains of paupers, of sex offenders, strains with strong tendencies toward larceny, assault, lying, running away,” Davenport once told a reporter. “The costs to society of these strains is enormous.”It was a planned extinction of the most marginalized people in society – dressed up as a way to better society.It was an ugly time. The eugenics mania that swept the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to forced sterilizations and the passage of laws in 27 states designed to limit the numbers of those considered genetically unfit: immigrants, Jews, African-Americans, the mentally ill and those deemed “morally delinquent.”2023: Six Months Post-Roe, 24 US States Have Banned Abortion or Are Likely to Do So - A Roundup.1901 – 1909:The idea of "race suicide," popularized by President Theodore Roosevelt, was the notion that middle- and upper-class white Americans were being outbred by "inferior races," primarily Southern and Eastern Europeans, blacks and Asians.#WeWillNotBeReplacedhttps://www.guttmacher.org/2023/01/six-months-post-roe-24-us-states-have-banned-abortion-or-are-likely-do-so-roundupEugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have altered various human gene frequencies by inhibiting the fertility of people and groups purported to be inferior or promoting that of those purported to be superior.https://www.slideshare.net/DrDineshCSharma/eugenics-euthenics-euphenics#4How the Nazis Were Inspired by Jim Crow.In 1935, Nazi Germany passed two radically discriminatory pieces of legislation inspired by American laws: the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. Together, these were known as the Nuremberg Laws, and they laid the legal groundwork for the persecution of Jewish people during the Holocaust and World War II.When the Nazis set out to legally disenfranchise and discriminate against Jewish citizens, they weren’t just coming up with ideas out of thin air. They closely studied the laws of another country. According to James Q. Whitman, author of Hitler’s American Model, that country was the United States.“America in the early 20th century was the leading racist jurisdiction in the world,” says Whitman, who is a professor at Yale Law School. “Nazi lawyers, as a result, were interested in, looked very closely at, [and] were ultimately influenced by American race law.”To craft legal discrimination, the Third Reich studied the United States.https://www.history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crowhttps://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-arizona-227612The year was 1914 and the occasion was the first Race Betterment Conference.Hosted by John Harvey Kellogg under the auspices of the Race Betterment Foundation he co-founded, the purpose of the five-day event was to study the cause of and cure for "race degeneracy" through the lens of the eugenics movement.Its proponents claimed the impartiality of science, but, in practice, they found "inferiority" mostly among poor people and minorities and, even more particularly, among those seen as having failed to know their place.In terms of positive eugenics, the encouragement of the fit to reproduce, Kellogg advocated for a eugenics registry for the purpose of establishing "racial thoroughbreds" and called for medical records to be considered before marriage.A belief in white superiority lay at its heart. And, by the time eugenics was discredited as a science and by its association with the Nazis in the 1930s and '40s, it had left a dark legacy, particularly in laws permitting the involuntary sterilization of "defectives" and in harsh limits on immigration.The idea of "race suicide," popularized by President Theodore Roosevelt, was the notion that middle- and upper-class white Americans were being outbred by "inferior races," primarily Southern and Eastern Europeans, blacks and Asians.https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/2019/03/21/john-harvey-kellogg-battle-creek-michigan-eugenics-race-nazis/3202628002/Why would US military veterans take up arms against the country they swore an oath to protect?Through gripping personal perspectives from all sides of this ongoing crisis, Against All Enemies goes deep inside the violent extremist movement in America, alongside the Proud Boys, 3 Percenters, and with never-before-seen footage of the Oath Keepers.These groups, organized and led by highly trained military veterans, pose one of the greatest threats to the United States today. While most veterans are successful in their transition to civilian life, an increasingly radicalized element is drawn to the insurrectionist movement. We saw evidence of this during the January 6 Capitol riots, but the danger goes far beyond a single day.The film explores the historical roots of the insurrectionist cause, its conspiracy fueled draw for today's veterans, and the top-cover coming from powerful politicians and highly decorated former military officers. Against All Enemies is a warning about an existential threat to democracy and a beacon for those hoping to combat it.Ziklag, a secret charity funded by wealthy conservative donors, whose members include the families behind Hobby Lobby and Jockey apparel, is spending millions to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the voter rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump. The group also has a long-term plan to steer the U.S. toward Christian nationalism — but lawyers and tax experts say it may be violating the law.“Inside Ziklag, the Secret Organization of Wealthy Christians Trying to Sway the Election and Change the Country”In the Bible, the town of Ziklag is where the character David lives for a time while he’s being persecuted. It’s his safe space. It’s a place from which David can plan counterattacks.That name is now being used by wealthy Christian zealots who intend to steer the election in their favor.Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.Election Deniers Are Ramping Up Efforts to Disenfranchise Voters.After working for months to challenge thousands of voter registrations, election denial groups are now pushing ahead with plans to challenge voters and votes ahead of the election.For the past six months, election denial groups across the United States have been laser-focused on efforts to purge voter rolls in support of former president Donald Trump’s reelection bid.Using new apps and online tools, they claim their volunteers have filed hundreds of thousands of voter registration challenges. Though these efforts are based on unreliable data and debunked election fraud conspiracies, they threaten to disenfranchise voters by removing legitimate registrations. And as the deadline to file these voter roll challenges approaches next week, experts warn that these groups are already planning out their next moves to stop Democratic voters in swing states.https://www.wired.com/story/election-deniers-efforts-disenfranchise-voters/Challenges to voter rolls inspired by a conservative Texas-based nonprofit group called True the Vote has some election officials worried.There’s a new movement in the world of conservative Christianity. It is relatively opaque and unknown, but its power and influence is growing, and if you are unaware of the NAR, it is time you learn about them, because they are on a path to change Christianity, politics, and culture in the United States. It’s not hyperbole in the slightest to say that, if they succeed, politics, religion, and culture will be dramatically - and more worrisome - perhaps permanently changed.The black robe regiment is based on a fictional history fabricated by David barton. It’s basically a group that organizes militarized churches. It’s absolutely nuts.A right-wing group cried voter fraud. Then they were asked to provide evidence.https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/georgia-voter-fraud-trump-dsouza-rcna139034“Gangsters of Capitalism”: Jonathan Katz on the Parallels Between Jan. 6 and 1934 Anti-FDR Coup Plot.We speak to award-winning journalist Jonathan Katz about his new book “Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire.” The book follows the life of the Marines officer Smedley Butler and the trail of U.S. imperialism from Cuba and the Philippines to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Panama. The book also describes an effort by banking and business leaders to topple Franklin D. Roosevelt’s government in 1934 in order to establish a fascist dictatorship. The plot was exposed by Butler, who famously declared, “War is a racket.” The far-right conspiracy to overthrow liberal democracy has historical parallels to the recent January 6 insurrection, says Katz.https://conspiranon.blogspot.com/2023/11/smedley-butler-and-1930s-fascist-plot.html2022: Former President Donald Trump endorsed a recently unveiled plan by a cadre of his former staffers to strip tens of thousands of federal workers of their civil service protections and fire them at will under the next Republican administration.https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/07/trump-endorsed-plan-purge-civil-service-rogue-bureaucrats/375028/Carl Sagan Predicted The Rise Of Donald Trump 25 Years Ago.“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”Sound familiar? Thought so. In addition to this, Sagan also made some similar comments (around the 3.50 mark in that link) in an interview with Carlie Rose in 1996:“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It’s a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along.”https://conspiranon.blogspot.com/2023/12/carl-sagan-predicted-rise-of-donald.htmlThe Hilarious New Dystopian Christian Nationalist Movie - Disciples in the Moonlight Review"What if Bible illegal?" Cry the people who are making it law for kids to learn it.Evangelicals wouldn’t notice if the bible was made illegal since they never read it anyway.A chilling scene of America's future is developing. Police started invading libraries to enforce book bans.#GestapoDonald Trump just made his most dictatorial threat yet at an unhinged rally full of theocratic “Christian” extremists. This is a red-alert, folks…Project 2025: The History Of How Trumpism Radicalized.Project 2025: The Plan To Take Over The Courts.MeidasTouch breaks down the Donald Trump campaign's affinity for Nazi-ism and a resurfaced JD Vance Photo.Christian Nationalists Are Getting Real Attention.Christian Nationalists are getting real attention now. How did we get here as a country? Are they going to succeed? Is the attention good for them or good for the people who oppose them? I think it's good for us. They often live in echo chambers of extremes and don't realize how far their ideas have gone because of it. This country does not support the majority of things they want to see happen. Let's look into some of them.
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