Republican National Committee Panel Approves Trump-Backed Platform

The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) platform committee on July 8 approved a new policy platform, a 16-page document detailing the party’s aims and strategy for the next four years.

The draft platform was released one week ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The document is not official until adopted by convention delegates next week.

Lara Trump, co-chair of the RNC, has frequently said that the Trump campaign and the RNC would operate in sync.

“We are now one combined effort,” Ms. Trump said in a televised interview on April 4. “There is no daylight between us.”

The platform announcement bears that out, as it was first released by the Trump campaign via email. Several minutes later, the RNC issued an email with the subject line containing ICYMI, an acronym for “in case you missed it.”

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Trump Campaign Senior Advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles referred to the document as “President Trump’s 2024 Republican Party Platform” in the RNC announcement.

The platform is dedicated to “the forgotten men and women of America.” Several policy points relate to concerns of blue-collar workers. Those include eliminating taxes on tips, making the United States a “manufacturing superpower,” and protecting Social Security and Medicare.

It also talks about making the American Dream affordable again through pledging to reducing the cost of housing, higher education, and healthcare.

Several action points address national security, including sealing the border, deporting illegal immigrants, beefing up the U.S. military, and creating an anti-missile defense system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome.

To strengthen the economy, the GOP platform proposes increasing U.S. energy production, lowering taxes, maintaining the strength of the U.S. dollar, and eliminating mandates aimed at accelerating the switch to electric vehicles.

The Republican social agenda includes traditional GOP policies related to law and order, such as halting the importation of drugs and fighting urban crime.

Newer policy points appear aimed at protecting the rights of individuals against government overreach.

For example, the traditional Republican promise to protect the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms shares billing with protecting the freedoms of speech and religion.

The platform pledges to end the “weaponization of government” and to withhold funding from schools that promote critical race theory and gender ideology. The platform also opposes biological males competing in female-only sports.

The platform does not mention some policy topics traditionally favored by Republicans. Those include balancing the federal budget, eliminating the national debt, and reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.

Restricting abortion, long a centerpiece of Republican policy, is reduced to a single line: “We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).” The platform states the power to regulate abortion now rests with the States and with the people, a reference to the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.