The Republican Party Is Changing Its Platform, To Be Less Focused On Abortion And More Fixated On Immigration And Isolationism

The Republican party has come up with a new draft which is backed by Donald Trump. It is is not strong in language against abortion and fixates more on isolationism, nationalism and immigration. During the 2016 and 2020 elections, the Republicans pursued a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks. Now, the party is simply saying that abortion should be left up to the states. It is obvious that this fits the current political feeling and reality: even if you put a ban on abortion (even after 20 weeks), states can still challenge it and rebel against such legislation. So, it is much easier to leave it to the states (which is what the Supreme Court did in its overturning of Roe V. Wade), and let the cards fall where they will, allowing more pro-life states to do what they want, and more pro-abortion states to do their will, since their desires are out of the control of the federal government. On the other hand, opinions against lax immigration are becoming much more widespread, nationalism and isolationism are very popular. So the Republican party — as all parties do — is adapting to the realities. Nonetheless, the new draft marks a trend in the Republican party which has been germinating for at least over a decade now: the shifting away from moral objections that are rooted in Christianity (pro-life, family values), and the focus on more nativist issues. The “gays for Trump” or “gay Republican” phenomena (which has been occurring going all the way back to the Romney campaign), attests to this reality. As we read in the New York Times:

Donald J. Trump told officials on Monday that he supports a draft of a new Republican Party platform, one that reflects the presumptive nominee’s new position on abortion rights and slims down policy specifics across all areas of government.

The draft platform, as described to The New York Times by people briefed on it, cements Mr. Trump’s ideological takeover of the G.O.P. The platform is even more nationalistic, more protectionist and less socially conservative than the 2016 Republican platform that was duplicated in the 2020 election.

Mr. Trump has had the draft for several days and called into a meeting of party officials on Monday and said that he supports it.

The abortion section has been softened. There is no longer a reference to “traditional marriage” as between “one man and one woman.” And there is no longer an emphasis on reducing the national debt, only a brief line about “slashing wasteful government spending.”

The rest of the document reflects Mr. Trump’s priorities as outlined on his campaign website: a hard-line immigration policy, including mass deportations; a protectionist trade policy with new tariffs on most imports; and sections on using federal power to remove allegedly left-wing ideas from academia, the military and wherever else they may be found in the U.S. government.

Mr. Trump and his top aides have alienated some activists by shutting them out of the development of the platform. The former president was especially focused on softening the language on abortion — the issue he views as his biggest vulnerability in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

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The section on protecting human life has been significantly watered down in the 2024 draft platform. In the 2016 and 2020 platform, that section included extensive specific details about what the Republican Party would do to limit abortions, including supporting a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks. It stated that “the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.”

The 2024 draft platform, as described to The Times, is called “America First: A Return to Common Sense,” and softens that abortion language and shifts the issue from one of conscience to a matter best handled by the states.

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