'Reclaiming America First' Launches Amid Vance's Anti-War Retreat — SkimNews
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- JD Vance addressed the GOP midterm convention Thursday, praising Trump and calling opponents "extremists who openly hate our nation" — a stark retreat from his 2023 endorsement, which staked his support on Trump having "started no wars despite enormous pressure from his own party."
- The Institute for Peace & Diplomacy launched "Reclaiming America First," an initiative to take back the America First mantle from what it describes as Trump's hawkish drift and articulate an alternative U.S. foreign policy grounded in realism, restraint, and rejection of unilateralism.
- Arta Moeini, director of research at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy, said Trump has been "at least disingenuous about using the term 'America First'" and that the initiative aims to combat "the taint of that association of 'America First' with this version of Trump."
- Navigator Research found that roughly 20% of Trump 2024 voters now regret their vote, with nearly half of that group citing the war with Iran as the primary reason for their regret.
- Michael Brendan Dougherty of the National Review argued that "the Iran war is bringing about a humiliation of America" via a depleted munitions stockpile, and that public opposition may have already prevented Trump from more dramatic steps like invading Kharg Island.
- Panelists agreed America First as a foreign policy framework predates and will outlive Trump, with Reid Smith of Stand Together saying it "will long outlive MAGA and the current coalitional dynamics at play surrounding the president," though they split over specifics like whether a "multinodal" world echoes liberal internationalism.
Why it matters: Twenty percent of Trump 2024 voters now regret their choice, with nearly half citing the Iran war — and a panelist warned the munitions stockpile is 'very depleted.' The launch of 'Reclaiming America First' signals the anti-war fracture inside the GOP is now organized, not just rhetorical, and is reshaping what the conservative foreign policy brand means going into the midterms.
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