U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene referred to former President Donald Trump as “the founding father of the America First Movement” at the Republican National Convention on Monday.
Greene spoke at the convention Monday night, after Trump was officially nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate for President earlier in the day.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]“Today is a celebration. The American spirit is alive and well, and we have once again nominated for president the founding father of the America First Movement, Donald John Trump,” Greene declared.
The phrase “America First” has a complicated history. Founded in 1940, the America First Committee objected to the U.S. getting involved in World War II. It had hundreds of thousands of members—some of which were known anti-Semites, according to The Atlantic. “America First” increasingly became associated with anti-Semitic views.
While Greene was met with cheers and applause from the crowd at the convention, people on social media expressed confusion and outrage over her remarks. Many fact checked the claim that Trump was the “founding father” of the movement, and others noted the phrase’s ties to anti-Semitism.
“‘The founding father of the America First Movement’ is an absurd title for a man who is not,” one person posted on X.
Some pointed out that the Ku Klux Klan also used the phrase “America First.”
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During her remarks, Greene also said that she was praying for the family of Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old man who died Saturday after a gunman opened fire at Trump at a Pennsylvania rally. Then she pivoted to criticizing Democrats.
“We will honor Corey’s memory by building the country he wanted, the country he wanted for his children, and a government worthy of the American people,” she said. “For far too long, the establishment in Washington has sold us out. They promised unity and delivered division. They promised peace and brought war. They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday.”
International Transgender Day of Visibility has been held each year on March 31 since 2009. This year, it happened to fall on Easter Sunday.
Greene went on to say that “there are only two genders.”
People took to social media to react to Greene’s speech.
“Listening to Marjorie Taylor Greene speak about trans people and ‘only two genders’ is a reminder that the lack of understanding about the differences between sex and gender runs deep,” one person posted on X.
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