A growing faction of Democrats is appropriating Donald Trump's signature political slogan, weaponizing "America First" against the president's military entanglements abroad while redirecting national resources toward domestic priorities. The maneuver exposes deep fissures within the right and hands the left a potent messaging tool for 2028.
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive Senate candidate in Michigan backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, declared himself "the most America First candidate in the country, proudly." His interpretation flips the script: "When you keep our money here rather than sending it to some other country's war machine, that's America First."
The framing has caught on. California Rep. Ro Khanna, exploring a presidential run, reintroduced legislation to ban gas exports during price spikes, framing it as putting America first. On the House floor in February, he attacked "another war in the Middle East" as a betrayal of that principle.
Dan Osborn, a union leader mounting an independent Senate challenge in Nebraska, took the argument further. He wrote Friday that the country needs to prioritize Americans over Israel, adding that undermining military independence for any ally, particularly one he called "untrustworthy" given past military costs, contradicts America First principles.
The Democratic appropriation of Trump's slogan has fractured Republican unity. Tucker Carlson, who introduced Trump at the 2024 convention, publicly lobbied against Iranian military action and later apologized for misleading people about the president. El-Sayed seized on the opening, accusing Trump of theatrical America First rhetoric masking loyalty to AIPAC and the military-industrial complex.
Most mainstream Democrats still avoid using Trump's phrase directly. Yet the underlying argument has become party orthodoxy. Ocasio-Cortez, weighing presidential or Senate options for 2028, told Memphis audiences that bomb-related spending could fund schools instead. Former Vice President Kamala Harris argued in Arkansas that public dollars should flow to housing, healthcare, and childcare rather than foreign conflicts nobody supports.
Beyond antiwar messaging, Democrats have embraced industrial policy as the domestic counterpart to their America First vision. Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona and Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced the Make More in America Act in June, with Kelly arguing it would stimulate domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on foreign rivals.
Public sentiment undergirds the shift. Voters exhausted by Middle Eastern conflicts, particularly those struggling financially at home, increasingly reject the foreign intervention consensus that dominated for decades. Both parties now recognize the political value in meeting voters where they already stand.
Trump exits office in 2029, but the political force he tapped into appears durable and bipartisan. The question facing Republicans is whether they can reclaim ownership of a slogan increasingly associated with opposing the president's own military moves.
Author James Rodriguez: "The real test comes when these candidates move from attacking Trump's wars to defending their own spending priorities, and voters decide whether Democratic America First talk matches their wallet-first concerns."
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