Being a nationalist is often viewed with extremely negative connotations these days. When someone thinks of Nationalist they have likely over time due to repeated media messaging begun to immediately think of "White Nationalists", or "White Nationalism". This by extension likely leads them to KKK, Nazis, neo-Nazis, and some might then make the jump to "Trump Supporter".
A nationalist in reality is not those things. At the root of it. They are someone who loves their country. They treat their country much like they may treat their house. They fix their house up as nice as they can, they make it comfortable to live in, they repair things that need to be repaired, and they may make it look nice to show they are proud of it. Then they might go forth and help other people with their homes as well if they want it. The key is they don't tend to let their house fall into disrepair and become a slum while they are busy making houses that don't belong to them look great and grand.
The "America First" slogan was about fixing your own nation first. That doesn't mean don't help other nations. It simply is basically saying that our nation, much like your house should be fixed, repaired, and working well before we worry about fixing other nations.
It also was not stating that people outside of America should be treating America first. In fact, most people that believe in "America First" think that people should be treating their nation first. "Brazil First", "China First", "Germany First", etc. Where you live. Fix your nation first.
I have begun to see what I think motivates some of the people that are against this simple idea. It is a matter of perspective.
If you have one house. If your house is destroyed where do you go? If your property is lost what do you do? That is the reality for most people.
There are people that have multiple homes though. While losing a home would still be unpleasant for them they still have other places to go. Thus, their perspective is going to be different.
Now what if these people have multiple homes in multiple nations?
If your nation collapses where do you go? For most of us that is a big problem.
For some people though that is not a problem at all.
I am a nationalist. I think my own house should be in order before I try to fix other houses.
I do have white skin. Though I have quite a lot of "Native American" ancestry as well.
I am beginning to see the true enemy as potentially lying within the ranks of those I am now referring to as the nationless. They have residences in many nations so they truly have a very different perspective if one nation collapses or not.
A lot less to lose as far as I see it...
What about Nationalism...
Am I for "White Nationalism", "Black Nationalism", or anything similar? Am I for La Raza or anything like that?
Absolutely not. That is racism thru and thru.
I am a nationalist. I think I should fix my own nation first.
That doesn't mean I think everyone that lives in my nation needs to share the same traits, beliefs, etc. as me. The only thing I would hope they have in common with me is a desire to keep their nation in good condition.
The Nationless
I think the nationless have weaponized the label "Nationalist" and "Nationalism" and that they are using propaganda techniques to make us ignore things that if we were wise we would be not ignoring. It is purely about manipulation and control.
I don't want to be controlled by very big cockroaches that scurry from one nation to another when the light shines upon them.
EDIT: My Nation - The United States
If I were to compare it to my home. The walls and siding are extremely old and starting to tatter and fall apart. We occasionally put something fancy in the window or plant a nice flowering bush to give the illusion it is doing better than it does. We paid for that flowering bush by getting some dupe to give us yet another high interest credit card as we've been living on many different credit cards that are already maxed out. We give the illusion we are doing great but that is basically only because the creditors haven't tried to collect. The interest payments are eating up pretty much all of our funds but for some reason they are fine with giving us more credit cards. We also convinced a few of our neighbors that monopoly and play money were negotiable and worth something so they traded us a few goods. We have gotten really good at giving the illusion of power, and wealth.
- NOTE: This is fictitious. This is me treating the U.S. as if it were my household.