The Republican National Committee released the party’s platform on Monday, which was passed behind closed doors ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The 16-page document has limited specifics on many key issues and adopts former President Donald Trump’s position on abortion, opposing a federal ban and handing over the decision on limits to the states. The omission of language on a national ban for the first time in 40 years comes as the Republican nominee seeks to appeal to swing voters by downplaying the issue.
What’s in the Republican’s 2024 party platform?
The platform lays out 20 “promises” that mirrors Trump‘s Truth Social posts in its slogans and capitalized letters. It also makes Trump’s campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, an official tagline of the Republican party.
They address immigration, the economy, energy, taxes and crime, but avoids mentioning the word “abortion” in any of the key points.
- SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION
- CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY
- END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN
- MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!
- STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER
- LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!
- DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS,
INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR
ARMS - PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A
GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY — ALL MADE IN AMERICA - END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
- STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG
VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS - REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.
- STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST
AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD - KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY
- FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO
CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE - CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS
- CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER
IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR
CHILDREN - KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS
- DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN
- SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS,
AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP - UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS
Several of the commitments are elaborated on later in the document, but they lack detail on how, exactly, these goals will be feasibly accomplished.
The RNC vows to “reverse” and “defeat” inflation, “unleash American Energy,” reinstate Trump’s “Deregulation Policies,” “SEAL THE BORDER” and “restore Peace through Strength” to bring down prices. It also cements Trump’s key campaign promises to make tax cuts permanent and eliminate taxes on tips, in order to “BUILD THE GREATEST ECONOMY IN HISTORY.”
Immigration is highlighted with the goals of “STOP[PING] THE MIGRANT INVASION,” bringing back Trump’s travel ban and beginning the “Largest Deportation Program in American History” by strengthening ICE and increasing penalties for illegal entry.
To address crime, in addition to enforcing immigration laws, the platform calls for using the U.S. Navy to impose a “full Fentanyl Blockade” and “ending the scourge of Illegal Alien gang violence once and for all.”
The RNC also puts forth the creation of a “GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY,” a reference to Israel’s short-range missile air defense system. A promise that would come with an astronomical price tag and have minimal capacity to stop the kinds of longer-range threats the U.S. faces.
Social issues are addressed through several facets. The platform vows to defund schools that engage in “inappropriate political indoctrination” and critical race theory, something Trump has long opposed. Instead, the “First Amendment Right to Pray and Read the Bible in school” will be championed.
Republicans will also “End Left-wing Gender Insanity” by “keep[ing] men out of womens’ sports, ban[ning] Taxpayer funding for sex changes surgeries, and stop[ping] Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition.”
Notably, the platform only mentions abortion once: “We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments),” the document states. This is in line with Trump’s rhetoric to leave abortion laws up to the states under the 14th Amendment.
The document echoes Trump’s promise to not makes cuts to Social Security or Medicare, departing from the long-held Republican stance on entitlement benefits.
Climate change is not mentioned.
How the 2024 Republican platform compares to 2020
The RNC did not release a new platform during the 2020 presidential elections, opting to maintain the 2016 edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a RNC resolution.
The 2024 platform is 50 pages shorter than its predecessor, which came in at 66 pages. It has shifted GOP rhetoric on several fronts.
The platform’s softened stance on abortion has come under scrutiny within the Republican Party. The 2016 and 2020 platforms endorsed a 20-week federal abortion ban, supported a “human life amendment” to the Constitution and promised to defund Planned Parenthood. The 2024 version only states that the RNC “proudly stand[s] for families and life” and states are “free to pass laws protecting those rights,” making no mention of a federal ban.
The principle of “traditional marriage and family” has also been replaced with a broader call for an end to “Left-wing Gender Insanity.” Rhetoric against same-sex marriage has also been replaced with opposition toward transgender rights. The 2024 platform advocates for “keep[ing] men out of women’s sports” and banning “Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition.”
A stronger stance on practicing religion has been adopted. The new platform explicitly mentions reading the Bible in schools, whereas the 2016-2020 platforms only affirmed the rights of students to “engage in voluntary prayer at public school events.”
The new platform also deviates from past GOP positions on trade and explicitly supports tariffs, which it said will allow “Taxes on American Workers, Families, and Businesses [to] come down.”
Despite Trump doubling down on his calls to replace the Affordable Care Act, it appears that the RNC has dropped the idea as no mention of Obamacare is made in the 16-page document. In 2016 and 2020, the RNC had written that “any honest agenda for improving healthcare must start with the repeal of the dishonestly named Affordable Care Act.”
The old platforms called for cuts and reforms to Medicare, including raising the age of eligibility due to “today’s longer life span.” The 2024 platform also vows to protect Medicare from being “financially crushed by the Democrat plan to add tens of millions of new illegal immigrants to the rolls of Medicare,” a false claim as illegal immigrants are not eligible to enroll in federally funded coverage.
The new platform, both stylistically and substantively, signals Trump’s expanding influence over the GOP.