Donald Trump on Saturday was accused of giving the "middle finger" to his own supporters.
The Atlantic staff writer Michael Scherer over the weekend published an article in which he included an exclusive quote from the president.
The report states:
"When I caught Donald Trump by phone this morning, the president wanted to make one thing clear: 'America First' means whatever he says it does. 'Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,' Trump told me."
Trump further said, "For those people who say they want peace—you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon—that’s not peace," according to Scherer's reporting.
That quote didn't sit well with political observers and experts.
MeidasTouch said, "Wow."
"Trump just gave the middle finger to his own supporters. Amid growing backlash over his decision to drag the U.S. into another Middle East war, Trump now says that 'America First' means whatever he says it does—while falsely claiming he invented the term," the group wrote Saturday.
HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte offered a simple fact check.
"No, Trump was not the first to talk about 'America First.' That honor falls to American Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s," the reporter said Saturday.
Conservative commentator Pedro L. Gonzalez also took Trump to task over the new take.
"Trump is taking what the new right, dissident right etc., considers the 'neocon' or 'hawk' position on Iran and framing it as 'America First.' How? Because America First means whatever Trump says, even if it means everything the new right claims to oppose," he wrote Saturday. "You couldn’t dream of a more compromised movement. It cannot have any real beliefs or positions because all of those things are laid low by Trump. It stands for nothing because it is constantly on its knees for his caprice."