Secretary of State Marco Rubio Lays Out What It Really Means to Put America First

What does it mean to be “America First”? 

To many, the answer seems obvious. But as anyone paying attention knows, what President Trump means by the phrase is often very different from what his critics, former, or even current allies assume. For some, “America First” is shorthand for “America Only,” pull back from the world, cut off allies, and redirect every dollar spent abroad into domestic projects, effectiveness be damned. 

For President Trump and his administration, however, the principle is simpler and more practical: put America’s interests ahead of everyone else’s. 

That does not mean abandoning allies or pretending the United States can succeed entirely on its own. It means recognizing that expanding American power and prosperity is the central aim of foreign policy, and that those objectives should take precedence over the priorities of multinational bodies such as the United Nations. It means no longer spending two decades trying to build democracy abroad only to accept American failure as the price of the effort. And it means helping partners in ways that are mutually beneficial, and preserving American hegemony rather than apologizing for it.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle to explain what the term actually means, and why “America First” is not the same thing as “America Only.”

Secretary of State @MarcoRubio tells @mboyle1 that America First foreign policy “offends a lot of people in these think tanks and editorial writers. But if we had listened to them, America would be a middle power.” https://t.co/tMHZGsl4of

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) October 16, 2026

“First of all, I know that people in the media, not this media, but other media like to criticize the term ‘America First’ as some sort of evil thing,” the secretary of state said. “Let me ask people, how many candidates would be elected if they went out and told the American people, my job is to put America second, or America third, or America last? If they don’t like America First, they should have the guts to go out there and tell people. ‘I am running for office on the belief that our foreign policy should be driven by America second or America third.'”

“No one ever does that. Because I think at its core, everyone understands that our foreign policy, which is what I can speak about, has to be about what is good for America,” Rubio said.

“Now we would argue that what is good for America is probably also good for many of our allies as well. And in those instances in which what’s good for us and what’s good for someone we like are not exactly aligned, then we’ll work on it with diplomacy and try to manage all of that. But in the end, America First is common sense.”

“I think what the President is saying is that we as a country, we’re the largest economy in the world, the most powerful military in the world, the most influential culture in the world, we are going to use all the elements of American power to further the interests of the United States, which we believe also furthers the interests of our allies and the broader world.”

“That’s what the President is doing,” Rubio added. “And it offends a lot of people in these think tanks and editorial writers. But if we had listened to them, I mean, at this point, America would be a middle power.”

As Rubio has made clear throughout his tenure as Secretary of State, America is done apologizing for its greatness. The United States is stronger, more capable, and more consequential than institutions like the United Nations or the International Criminal Court, and it should act like it. 

We will not fight for self-pitying organizations. We will not fight for some abstract “balanced global order.” We will fight for a world shaped in the image of the United States: one in which our enemies fear American strength, our allies follow American leadership, and the free world enters a new golden age of prosperity, freedom, and peace.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

Help us continue to report on the administration’s peace through strength foreign policy and its successes. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.