Puzzling It Out

 

If we had a picture of what “America First” would look like, how might we envision that?

·       Protected borders.

·       Trade deals that are to our overall advantage.

·       Trade deals that prevent our enemies from controlling the supply and transport of goods we want to buy and sell.

·       Regional protection, to further secure our borders.

·       Alliances that are equally beneficial to us and our allies, rather than mainly costs and burdens to us while protecting the allies.

·       Domestic peace, law, and order to protect life, liberty, and property.

·       Equal protection of our rights as citizens.

·       Prioritization of citizens over legal non-citizens, and no acceptance of illegal non-citizens.

·       Better election infrastructure and laws to ensure election integrity.

·       More transparency and truth, to allow for clearer decisionmaking.

·       I’m sure there might be a few other things we could list. But let’s just point out that the America First picture goes beyond the boundaries of the United States, necessarily.

Similarly, if you were thinking “My Home First,” you would want your home protected and in good shape for those living in it with you, but you would also benefit from a healthy, thriving, safe neighborhood, within a healthy, thriving, and safe community, city, county, state, region, etc. It’s not that you’re trying to control all those larger circles; it’s that you know you and all your neighbors near and distant will benefit from the things that benefit your home, so interest in those things is mutual.

There have been a fair number of beyond-our-boundaries locations President Trump has acted on since coming into office in 2025. Some of them were more than a little surprising.

I think President Trump spent those four additional waiting years looking at the table with puzzle pieces spread all over—while looking at the picture on the box that the rest of us don’t see.

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