"America First – What Does It Really Mean in 2025?"

First off, a quick history lesson because context matters. The phrase "America First" goes way back. It popped up in the 1800s with nativist groups, got big in World War I when Woodrow Wilson used it for neutrality. But it really exploded in the 1940s with the America First Committee – a massive group, over 800,000 members, pushing hard to keep the U.S. out of World War II. They were isolationists: build up our defenses, stay out of European wars, aid short of war. Famous faces like Charles Lindbergh were involved, and yeah, it got tainted with some anti-Semitic rhetoric from certain members, which is why the slogan has baggage for a lot of people.