Will ‘America first’ leave America behind? Exploring discourses of a fossil-fueled heartland

Aligned with the “America First” doctrine, the Republican Party's opposition to climate policies has intensified to unprecedented levels under President Trump. Using a geopolitical ecology framework and discourse analysis of Congressional Records (2015-2024) this article investigates how populist and radical right ideologies have reshaped Republican climate policy discourse over time, shifting from economic to identity-based opposition. We identify three distinct discourses: the “neoliberal rationalist,” “nationalist protectionist” and “radical nostalgic” discourses. Our analysis demonstrates a shift from neoliberal rationalism and nationalist protectionism as the primary basis for opposition to climate policies, toward radical nostalgic arguments rooted in moral and cultural identity. The emerging “radical nostalgic” discourse frames climate action as a threat to American values, invoking retrogradism, petro-masculinity, geopolitical identity and a vision of national renewal through fossil fuel extraction and reindustrialization. By legitimizing climate opposition while obscuring deeper socio-environmental conflicts and vulnerabilities, this discursive shift has enabled the extensive environmental rollbacks following Trump's re-election. We argue that Republican politicians increasingly mobilize grievances tied to the neoliberal economy, globalization and geopolitical change to protect fossil fuel industries, masking local ecological harms and risking long-term US competitiveness in the emerging green economy.