The Republican Party finds itself in an awkward position ahead of its August convention as a result of Trump’s “all about me” decision to move the location of his nominating speech after his dispute with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper about limiting the number of people allowed to attend the Charlotte gathering due to coronavirus.
Uncertainty about how this will impact the convention has led to a decision by party officials to forego the platform writing process and simply re-pass the 2016 edition.
Sorry, Jared, but Ivanka’s daddy has decided you won’t be changing the platform after all.
While the 2016 platform wasn’t worth the 58 pages of paper it took to create it four years ago, it has suddenly and ironically become the perfect document for Trump’s re-election — although not for the reasons he might think.
By renewing the 2016 platform for the 2020 campaign, Republicans will be adopting a document full of condemnations of the “current president,” “current chief executive,” “current administration,” or the “current occupant” of the White House. In 2016, those were references to Barack Obama, but now it will be referencing Donald Trump. And for those of us who have known all along that Trump has essentially been serving as Obama’s third term, these references still ring true.
Prepare to be amazed at the uncanny accuracies as I share only a couple of examples taken from the over three-dozen references included in the platform.
“The survival of the internet as we know it is at risk.
“Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government.”
Trump has openly waged war on internet free speech throughout his presidency and recently issued a constitutionally questionable executive order designed to give government more control of internet content.
“The Middle East is more dangerous now than at any time since the Second World War.
“Whatever their disagreements, presidents of both parties had always prioritized America’s national interests, the trust of friendly governments, and the security of Israel. That sound consensus was replaced with impotent grandstanding on the part of the current President and his Secretaries of State. The results have been ruinous for all parties except Islamic terrorists and their Iranian and other sponsors.”
In October last year, Trump abandoned our Kurdish allies in Syria to pave the way for Turkey to begin the wholesale slaughter of the people who fought with us against ISIS and allowed Vladimir Putin to assume a leadership role in the region. Russian troops marched in unopposed, claimed bases left abandoned by US troops after their hasty retreat, and provided support necessary for ISIS to regroup in the area.
The platform also censures the “current” president and his administration for other failures, including:
- Imposing “a social and cultural revolution” (Trump check)
- Causing a “huge increase in the national debt” (Trump check)
- Damaging America’s relationships with international partners (Trump check)
Though the Republican platform targeted Obama in 2016, it accurately targets Trump in 2020.
Party platforms are usually worthless. But maybe, even if by accident, the GOP got this one right.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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