No, I'm Not America First.

I sat down today, staring at my screen, trying to figure out where to even begin.

Because honestly, since Inauguration Day, it feels like there has been a fire hose of absolute madness coming at us from every direction. As a writer, I can’t even touch on all of it.

But I’m going to touch on some of it because, my God.

If the only way people will see reality is if we drag it in front of their faces, then I guess we’ll just have to keep dragging.

Let me start by saying that three years ago, I posted a simple statement of support for Ukraine.

It wasn’t controversial. It wasn't even a debate.

And do you know what happened?

My community—Republicans, Democrats, independents alike—came together and raised half a million dollars in humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Because we knew, instinctively, what America was supposed to stand for.

We knew that when a bully decides to steamroll a sovereign democracy, we don’t stand by and let it happen.

We knew that we had promised Ukraine--our ally--that if they gave up their nuclear weapons, we would be their last line of defense between democracy and a complete takeover.

That was our promise.

And here's the thing, I understand the disdain for violence. I am also not a fan of war.

But what I am a fan of is diplomacy.

And when your country’s word becomes mud, that no longer becomes possible on a global scale.

Keeping our promises must matter.

I thought we all agreed on that?

But this morning, my comment section featured some folks who deeply believed that my support for Ukraine somehow made me less American. That I was unpatriotic for standing by the exact same stance we all agreed upon three years ago.

I was told that I am not “America First”.

And you know what? That’s probably true.

Because now I know what that phrase really means to y’all (and we'll get into that in a second). But first—let’s set aside all the noise, all the speculation, all the he said, she said about what Trump might do in the future.

I don’t even have to tell you what he’s planning to do.

Let’s just talk about what he has already done. What he has put on social media for the entire world to see. Because if you have even a basic grasp of history, you don’t need a crystal ball to know exactly where this is going.

Let’s start with the AI-generated video that Trump himself—the current President of the United States—posted from an official government social media account.

It featured a golden statue of himself, towering like a god-king over the ruins of what was Gaza. A Trump-branded resort, plastered on the remains of a war zone. And then—because the man cannot resist the urge to make himself a parody of absolute villainy—a video of his buddy Elon on a Palestinian beach, dancing in a raincloud of money.

Think about that for a second.

The sitting President of the United States put out a government-backed fantasy of his own personal business profiting from war.

How do you defend that?

How do you justify that?

You don’t.

You can’t—unless you have completely lost your grip on reality.

And I am so tired of pretending otherwise.

Never mind how morally repugnant this is.

Never mind how insanely inappropriate it is for a sitting president to literally market a war as a business venture.

Let’s just sit with this fact: Over 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last two years. Nearly half of them children.

And this man—this actual leader of the free world—thought it was appropriate to post a gloating fantasy about slapping his name on top of a massacre.

And people are just nodding along.

It’s not okay.

It’s also not okay that the United States just cast its lot with Russia and Belarus at the United Nations. It’s not okay that we publicly humiliated Zelensky—the leader we swore to protect under the Budapest Memorandum—after promising Ukraine that if they disarmed, we’d defend them.

And now what?

We strip them of their weapons and throw them to the wolves?

And they dare to call that America First?

No.

I will say this as clearly as possible: I will never be America First.

Because when people say America First, what they really mean is America First at the expense of everyone else.

They mean power first.

They mean Trump first.

So let’s define it.

Define America.

Define First.

Because slogans sound real cute until you actually look at what they mean. And I am done letting people hide behind them.

You cannot deny what this administration has put out on our own government’s social media page.

And don’t even try to justify it.

Because believe me, nothing gets posted on an official government account without being checked and double-checked for every dog whistle on the planet.

They are blowing that whistle because they want you to hear it.

And you know what it’s saying?

Hate immigrants.

Laugh at their pain.

Mistrust the Jews.

Exploit the Palestinians.

To hell with diplomacy.

But in all things, believe Donald Trump is the solution!

Trust in him, because he represents…Jesus?

Don’t make me laugh.

The absolute irony of this Christian nationalist movement is that Jesus isn’t in any of it.

But do you know what is?

A golden calf.

This isn’t patriotism.

This is idolatry.

And it is time for some of y’all to wake up and stop worshiping the idol long enough to see it for what it really is.

Dangerous.

Patriotism is not about fealty to a leader—it’s about holding our leaders accountable to our country’s values.

It is not about blind loyalty—it’s about defending what is right.

So yeah, you’re damn right I’m not America First.

If that’s what you call patriotism, I can do without any bit of it.

I have been and always will be decency first, humanity first, freedom first.

Silly me.

I thought that’s what this country stood for.

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Hey friends,

Your presence here means the world to me. Knowing you’ve taken the time to read thoughts on empathy and human kindness reassures me that these values still resonate.

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With love and gratitude,

Mary Katherine