Critics of Donald Trump have worked hard to try to attach negative qualities to the phrase “America First” in order to paint the former president and his supporters as nativists, racists and xenophobes.
But Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) recently offered a far more reasonable and factual explanation that deserves a fair hearing.
Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington D.C. earlier this week, Vance noted that, far from being an exclusive club, America is a nation that includes people with a common history and a common future.
He pointed out that part of that commonality is that America welcomes newcomers to this country but we allow them to join us on terms that allow them to become a part of the continuity of this nation and its ideals.
Stop what you’re doing and watch this right now if you want to know what America First is all about🔥
“America is not just an idea. America is a nation. America is a group of people with a common history and a common future.” – @JDVance1 pic.twitter.com/1zQEv9u1Mm
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2024
Vance recounted how his wife is the daughter of South Asian immigrants who have genuinely enriched America in many ways.
He spoke of how his own heritage leads back to the coal mining country of Appalachia and how the people there are sometimes wrongly accused of enjoying “white privilege” at the expense of other ethnic groups.
He described the intense love and pride that the people of Appalachia feel, not just for the idea of America, but how they know that it is their home and will be their children’s home and that they would die fighting to protect it.
“That,” Vance continued, “is the source of America’s greatness, ladies and gentlemen.”
Vance described how, when he and his wife are someday laid to rest in his family’s cemetery in Eastern Kentucky, they will be part of seven generations of people who have fought for this country and helped to build it.
He emphasized that this love of America is not just an idea or set of principles but an example of how people come to revere their homeland.
Vance concluded by expressing his desire that his children might likewise love and defend what is good and right about this nation as he has done.
That’s a side of America First that our nation’s detractors would rather we not consider.
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