This past June, the Republican National Committee voted to keep its party platform from the 2016 convention, failing to realize that it kept language decrying policies of the "current President"—which was Barack Obama at the time of its writing.
But in a recent resolution, the Republican party announced that it would forego an official party platform, citing the pandemic that's killed over 170 thousand Americans and moved both parties' conventions into a virtual format.
😳 The GOP just announced that there is no 2020 platform this year other than to reassert “the Party's strong support for President Donald Trump and his Administration." pic.twitter.com/0wEF2Dnco3
— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) August 24, 2020
In place of a platform, the GOP instead reiterated its strong support for President Donald Trump, announcing:
"WHEREAS, The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President's America-first agenda;
RESOVLVED [sic], That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention;"
A substantial complaint from anti-Trump Republicans, like Lincoln Project co-founder and former GOP campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, is that the Republican party no longer upholds the principles of fiscal responsibility and state autonomy it once championed, but has instead become the party of Trump.
The recent scrapping of the party's platform in favor of a stamp of approval for Trump didn't do much to help that perception.
The Republicans, in 2020, for the first time, have no platform. Instead: "RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President's America-first agenda." It's no longer the Republican party. It's a Trump cult.https://t.co/BATeUiXRYu
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 23, 2020
This is dry language, so let me translate:
“There will be no Republican Party platform this year, only support for Trump."
Really. pic.twitter.com/kIOgA73iPZ
— Joshua A. Geltzer (@jgeltzer) August 24, 2020
The GOP announces that there will be no substantive republican platform. It simply is to support Donald Trump. That, folks, is a hallmark of fascism.
— A Worried Citizen (@ThePubliusUSA) August 24, 2020
Wow.
They say it outright.
No Republican platform for this election.
Just support for DJT.
The Republican Party is dead.
This is the Trump Party.
______________________________
This is the Democratic Party platform:https://t.co/QWmaDpZmda https://t.co/YA300OVy1B
— Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755) August 24, 2020
The Republican Party is gone. It's been hijacked.
It's America vs. Trumpism.#VoteBidenHarris2020ForAmericahttps://t.co/jTT9HUYiFX
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) August 24, 2020
The absence of an official platform, for some, called into question the validity of the entire convention.
Serious question. Should we even call this a Republican convention if there is no GOP platform? Isn't that the entire point of a convention? To come together on a policy agenda to unify the party? What are we even doing here.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) August 24, 2020
The decision not to produce or publish a Republican platform is a sad & troubling development. Elections are meant to provide choices in visions & policies as well as people. As Jefferson noted, democracy requires its citizen voters be informed, & this move undermines just that.
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) August 24, 2020
For anti-Trump republicans:
The party won't affirm what it stands for through adoption of a platform - but instead will support the president's agenda (regardless of contradictions to party orthodoxy)...
Are you still a republican?
By what definition?
— Victor Blackwell CNN (@VictorBlackwell) August 24, 2020
This “platform statement" from the GOP is a testament to how little the Party cares about ideas these days. The “ever-growing Republican movement" is actually shrinking rapidly, & the Party basically just says—multiple times—that it “supports President Trump."
It means nothing! pic.twitter.com/dTNzlb4dtu
— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) August 24, 2020
The 2020 Republican National Convention begins on Monday night and Donald Trump is expected to speak on each of the convention's four nights.
