Trump is rebranding the Republican Party in his image, one appointment announcement at a time

As Donald Trump prepares for his second term as president, he’s settled into specific language to describe his upcoming administration: “America First.”

Trump has used the phrase repeatedly in appointee announcements over recent days. He described Mike Waltz, the Florida Congressman he nominated as national security adviser, as “a strong champion of my ‘America First’ foreign policy agenda.” And though Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host Trump nominated for secretary of defense, has no experience working in government, Trump, in explaining the pick, said Hegseth “is tough, smart, and a true believer in ‘America First.’”

Every industry has its jargon, which can reveal as much as it obfuscates, like “disruptive innovation” in tech, or “data-driven” marketing. The repeated use of “America first” instead of “Republican” in these appointee announcements also speaks to how Trump has reshaped the Republican party—and rebranded it for his second term.

In so many words, it simply means loyal to and aligned with Trump. Jargon like this is used to signal priorities, boiling down complex policies and plans to work the levers of government into the equivalent of campaign slogans for governing. Like “Make America Great Again” and “the forgotten man,” “America First” is not a wholesale Trump invention, but a recycled phrase from the past.

A century ago, in the late 1910s and early 1920s, “America First” was a slogan used by Democrats and Republicans alike, but its meaning and associations changed over time, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Democratic President Woodrow Wilson used the phrase in a 1915 speech to argue that the U.S. should stay neutral in World War I, but it was also used by the Ku Klux Klan and other far-right, extremist groups.

“America First” today signals the nationalist economic protectionism, relative isolationism, and immigration policy favored by Trump and his allies. More broadly, it represents a rebrand of the Republican agenda to a new Trump Doctrine that the president-elect hopes his administration will reflect in a second term.