Trump offered the tweet at 8:14 a.m. with little other comment. And while the tweet didn't cite the criticism of his reported comments at a meeting with lawmakers in the White House, it was hard to see the words as anything but a response to that controversy. AMERICA FIRST! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2018

"America First" is one of the hallmarks of Trump's presidency, and reflects his stance on immigration.

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Trump wants to change the rules for entering the United States, and stepped into controversy when he said the nation should be seeking immigrants from countries such as Norway instead of places such as Haiti.

Trump is specially pushing to end family-based immigration, which conservatives call "chain migration," and which gives a leg up to family members of people already in the United States.

The tweet was the third of three messages from Trump on Twitter early Saturday morning. The president is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and appeared to be on a golf outing. A White House pool report said his motorcade had entered the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach shortly before 9:30 a.m.

In Trump's second tweet, he blamed Democrats for "doing nothing" to reach a deal on recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The Democrats are all talk and no action. They are doing nothing to fix DACA. Great opportunity missed. Too bad! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2018

Trump ended DACA last fall, and is now negotiating with Congress over legislation that would replace the Obama-era program, which allows certain immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children to work and live in the United Sates.

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Trump was talking to lawmakers about a wide-ranging immigration deal that included DACA when he reportedly said the United States should not take immigrants from "shithole countries." Trump was apparently referring to countries such as Haiti, El Salvador and African nations.

The first of the three tweets hailed the rising stock market as evidence that the GOP's tax plan, passed in December, was having a positive effect on the economy. The president often uses economic numbers to distract from other controversies.

"Yesterday was a big day for the stock market. Jobs are coming back to America. Chrysler is coming back to the USA, from Mexico and many others will follow," Trump tweeted Saturday.

"Tax cut money to employees is pouring into our economy with many more companies announcing. American business is hot again!" he added.

Two-thirds of Americans are optimistic about the economy under Trump, with 66 percent of Americans saying this week that the economy was "good" or "excellent," the most positive consumer confidence level since 2001.

Republicans are hoping these numbers help them in this fall's midterm elections, where the House and Senate majorities enjoyed by the GOP may be in jeopardy — in part because of Trump's low approval numbers.