last week, Before Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Trump, Republican 2024 policy platform announcedThis is noteworthy because four years ago the party had not adopted a policy platform.
Heading into the 2020 convention, Republicans Said “We did not want a small number of representatives to formulate a new platform without taking into account the broader perspective of the expanding republican movement.” Instead of adopting a new platform, the party The 2016 policy platform was reaffirmed. He added that he “continues to enthusiastically support the President’s America First policies.”
This year’s policy platform announcement has so far been largely ignored. The aftermath of the June 27 presidential debate and Project 2025 Presidential Transition Documentsand now an assassination attempt.
Some people ignore the importance of the platform, agree It echoes what 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole said about the platform adopted that year: “I’m not bound by the platform. I think I agree with almost everything in it, but I haven’t read it.”
But it would be a mistake to ignore the Republican policy platform, which offers a glimpse into what the GOP and Donald Trump want Americans to believe about the country they live in and what they will do if they win the November election.
This platform is also A glimpse into the complete Trumpification of the Republican PartyThis is most evident in its stated purpose: “Make America Great Again.”
Before we take a closer look at the 2024 Republican Platform, I want to explain why party platforms are important.
Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution To tell Party platforms are important in several ways, arguing that “platforms are an important test of a presidential candidate’s ability to control the platform-writing process and to give the party’s message to voters a distinctive character.”
They are “statements of political philosophy and issue positions” that Mann argues “make clear that there are more than a dime’s worth of differences between the two major parties.” Platforms are a roadmap for “campaign strategy, policy issues, and relationships with a party’s core constituency.”
Finally, Mann points out that party platforms provide “remarkably precise guidance about what presidential candidates and parties will pursue in office.”
Political scientist Marjorie Hershey To emphasize this point“Researchers have found that when a party controls Congress and the White House, that partySpending priorities reflect the issues emphasized in their policy platformsIn most cases, this is the case.” Moreover, Hersey writes, “Platform changes are often a key indicator of change in a party.”
Such changes are A look back at the 1980 Republican platform .
In the document, the Republican Party said:Abandoned the party’s longstanding commitment to the Equal Rights Amendment.And he adopted strong anti-abortion language,” Hersey said, which he said was “clear evidence of the shift toward right-wing conservatism that is now characteristic of the Republican Party.”
Certainly, there are elements of continuity between the 1980 and this year’s documents, and commentators have Don’t miss it When comparing Trump’s Republican Party to Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party.
Coming on the heels of a period of high inflation and international crisis, the Republican Party’s 1980 platform stated, “Our first objective at home is simple: non-inflationary economic growth and full employment. A fundamental shift in economic policy is needed in America…Republican policies are committed to economic growth and job creation.”
The Republican solution was “a bold program of tax cuts, spending control, and regulatory reform that will breathe new life into our economy.”
Turning to foreign policy, the 1980 platform stated, “Overseas, it is our aim to preserve world peace by keeping America strong.” In Trumpian terms, the platform asserted, “Never in modern history has the United States endured so many humiliations, indignities and defeats as it has during the past four years.” The platform promised to reverse America’s international humiliation and decline “by greatly strengthening our military power.”
This year’s Republican platform reflects some of the same themes, but it does so by distorting or ignoring the current state of America.
President Trump’s Depicting American carnage in his 2017 inaugural address2024 Republican Policy state,“[W]”Our country is in the midst of a deep decline. Our future, our identity, our very way of life is under threat like never before.”
To demonstrate that decline, the paper states, “America is now rocked by runaway inflation, open borders, rampant crime, attacks on children, and global conflict, chaos and instability.” Republicans will curb inflation and “make America affordable again,” the paper says.
Here, Republicans seem to be encouraging Americans to ignore the reality unfolding before their eyes: Inflation. Currently about 3% Economist Paul Krugman Note “Gas prices and grocery prices, measured as prices relative to the average hourly wage of non-management workers, are as affordable as they were in 2019.”
In addition, we Falling crime rates And historically An era of unprecedented strengthIn the US military and global alliances.
In a strange move, the Republican platform promises to “unleash the energy of America…to make us energy independent and dominant again.” Produce more energy than ever beforeWe have already achieved energy independence.
Republicans are again promising big tax cuts and rapid deregulation, following the economic logic of their 1980 platform. But the 2024 version adds a populist twist, promising to make permanent the massive tax cuts for the wealthy while also eliminating the tip tax for millions of restaurant and hospitality workers if Republicans return to power.
Of course, there are differences between what Republicans said in 1980 and what they say now, even though they painted a similarly bleak scenario for the United States then. This year’s platform warns about immigration and denounces “globalism.” It takes a tough stance on China and promises to implement an “America First economic policy.” But like the 1980 platform, Republicans say they will strengthen the U.S. military as a key foreign policy tool.
The 2024 platform specifically names now-familiar targets like the left’s attacks on religious liberty (particularly Christian religious liberty) and critical race theory in education. But it tones down the attacks on rights and promises of retaliation that have animated the Trump campaign. Indeed, the platform commits the Republican Party to “protect the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and fundamental freedoms.”
Ultimately, the Republican platform adopted in the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump will incorporate a set of diagnoses and promises the party has used for years, adding yet another layer of smokescreens and subterfuge to its governing program this year.
If commentators are right about how platforms structure party governance, the 2024 platform gives little reason to believe Republicans will govern wisely.
Austin Surratt is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law and Political Science at Amherst College.
