While Donald Trump was relatively quiet in the days after his debate with Joe Biden—preferring to let the president’s troubles fill the headlines—he still posted steadily on Truth Social. Amid notes criticising the media and sharing favourable polling, Mr Trump made some noticeable attempts to soften his message for a general-election audience. He distanced himself from a controversial group of former staffers preparing an agenda for his second term and emphasised the official 2024 Republican platform.
“Ours is a forward-looking Agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly,” Mr Trump wrote on July 8th, after the Republican National Committee’s rules body approved the party platform with an 84-18 vote. “We are, quite simply, the Party of Common Sense!”
Party platforms are usually consensus documents only distantly related to the reality of governing, even if the presidential nominee has some influence over content. But one Republican National Committeeman observes that this year’s document—a relatively brief 16 pages dedicated, “To the Forgotten Men and Women of America”—appears perfectly in sync with Mr Trump’s messaging. As such, it provides some insight into how the former president plans to campaign and even lead.
The word “abortion” appears only once, between paragraphs about “left-wing gender insanity” and religious-liberty protections. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process,” the platform reads. “The States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights.” It also clarifies that the party opposes late-term abortion but supports access to birth control and treatments like in vitro fertilisation.
This marks a departure from more comprehensive anti-abortion platforms of the past. That won’t satisfy many supporters of abortion rights, who see the 14th amendment reference as a wink to fetal personhood and believe states should not be able to legislate away core rights. On the other hand Mike Pence, Mr Trump’s former vice-president and an influential social conservative, called it a “profound disappointment”. The Trumpian strategy throughout the campaign has been to soften the blows of heretofore effective attacks against Republicans on abortion without entirely alienating the religious right. The platform is consistent with that aim.
If the document plays down abortion, no issue takes a more prominent role than immigration. The document includes familiar plans to secure the border and oversee a massive deportation programme, as well as to “keep foreign Christian-hating Communists, Marxists, and Socialists out of America”. References to immigration are even included in sections on inflation (“Open Borders Policies…have driven up the cost of Housing, Education, and Healthcare”) and national security (“Republicans will mobilise Military personnel and assets as necessary to crack down hard on the cartels that traffic drugs and people into our Country”). The word “deficit” appears only once, in relation to trade. The word “debt” does not appear at all.
Mr Trump, relatively indifferent to the 2016 platform, made sure that this document was peppered with his policy preferences even on relatively niche issues. The platform calls for the closure of the federal education department, with money redirected to states. The enactment of “baseline” tariffs, and the removal of taxes on tips, earn mentions, as does a call for America’s allies to meet defence-spending obligations. An entire section focuses on the protection of the elderly, while vowing that Mr Trump “will not cut one penny from Medicare or Social Security”.
Americans following the campaign so far will recognise the many distinctly Trumpian policies advocated in the party’s platform. The tone is unmistakable to anyone vaguely familiar with Mr Trump’s style. “We are a Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE,” the preamble declares. Yet, the text assures voters, they ought not fret. “We will Make America Great Again.” ■
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