In 2016, Donald Trump reshaped the Republican Party, aligning it more with the views of everyday Americans; the party platform finalized Monday — heavily influenced by Trump himself, complete with lots of capital letters — clearly reflects that shift.
Most important, it lays out a path to ensure prosperity and undo the worst damage of the Biden era, including ending inflation.
Where Democrats vow tax hikes, the GOP calls for securing the Trump cuts (which triggered record job growth and working-class wage gains), and for new working-class tax cuts, including an end to taxing tips — plus a rollback of job-destroying regulations.
It also rejects other Biden job-killers, aiming to make America again the world’s top energy producer and canceling insane electric-vehicle mandates.
Omitted, meanwhile, are past GOP calls to amend the Constitution to say life begins at conception; instead, it makes just one reference to abortion, committing the party to “a Vote of the People, from within the States, on the Issue of Life.”
Wise: Democrats aim to depict Trump and the GOP as seeking to deny all women any right to end a pregnancy.
On migrants, the GOP vows to “complete the Border Wall, shift massive portions of Federal Law Enforcement to Immigration Enforcement, and use advanced technology” to secure the border.
Plus, it calls for strengthening ICE and reinstating “Remain in Mexico” — forcing migrants to wait outside the United States for their asylum claims to be heard, rather than waving nearly all of them in.
Would-be border-jumpers see Biden policies as an “invitation”; this is a warning not to try.
The platform also contains its share of protectionism, a Trump hallmark. That won’t lower prices, but it can help wean the nation off dependency on China for key products (like medicine).
It adds sensible stands on schools — backing “universal school choice,” ensuring “parental rights” and promoting core subjects like reading, history and math over “left-wing propaganda,” like critical race theory and “gender indoctrination.”
Finally, on the global scene, Republicans seek to return to the “Peace through Strength” doctrine, “rebuilding our Military,” countering China, defeating terrorism and “reviving our Defense Industrial Base.”
They also vow to “stand with Israel.”
True, at just 16 pages, the document lacks details.
But as platform-committee chief Sen. Marsha Blackburn notes, few people ever read the longer versions of the past.
Above all else, there’s this: Democrats’ campaign will be entirely about painting Trump as a dire menace; the GOP platform aims to “unite our country by bringing it to new and record levels of success.”
A credible path to a better future beats empty fearmongering every time.
