After four months of primary voting, and one year after
Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president of the
United States, the
Republican National Committee’s convention has arrived. The theme:
Make America Great Again. For four days, from July 18 to 21 ,
Republican politicians, journalists, protesters, and the like will descend on
Cleveland to make
Trump the official presidential candidate for the
Republican Party, with
Indiana Gov.
Mike Pence as his running mate. The schedule: Where:
Quicken Loans Center,
Cleveland, Ohio Monday's theme: Make
America Safe Again Headlining speakers:
Melania Trump;
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; US Sen.
Joni Ernst, R-Iowa;
Jason Beardsley, advisor for Concerned Veterans of America; US Rep.
Ryan Zinke,
Montana Tuesday's theme: Make America
Work Again Headlining speakers:
Tiffany Trump;
Kerry Woolard, general manager of
Trump Winery;
Donald Trump Jr.;
Dr. Ben Carson; US Sen.
Shelley Moore Capito, R-West
Virginia;
Kimberlin Brown, soap opera actress Wednesday's theme: Make
America First Again Speakers will begin at 7 pm eastern time Headlining speakers: Lynne
Patton, vice president of the
Eric Trump Foundation; former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump's vice presidential pick
Thursday's theme: Make
America One Again Speakers will begin at 7:30 pm eastern time Headlining speakers:
Peter Thiel, Paypal founder;
Tom Barrack, founder and executive chair of
Colony Capital;
Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump The platform:
Going into the convention, the Republican Party’s platform — while not final or binding — provides good insight into the direction the
GOP is looking to take. As Vox’s
Matt Yglesias notes , this is particularly illuminating since Trump has been rather mum on policy issues on the campaign trail. It follows Trump on trade:
The Republican Party seems to have taken a few lines from Trump’s campaign speeches on trade, calling for "better negotiated trade agreements that put America first" in the party’s draft platform. While the GOP has previously been a vigorous supporter of free trade, the drafted platform says, "Republican president will insist on parity in trade and will stand willing to implement countervailing duties if other countries don't cooperate."
The draft does not follow Trump in calling for an end to the
North American Free Trade Agreement or in specifically upholding increased tariffs on
Chinese imports, two policy points Trump has actively appealed for on the stump. It isn’t really that Trump-y on a lot of other things: On social issues like same-sex marriage and women’s issues, the party’s platform seems to stick to its long-established language: It opposes the
Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage and states that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman but does not call for a constitutional amendment to that end and advocates for limiting bathroom usage by biological sex. On education , the platform — in line with Trump — "congratulates" states that have opted out of
Common Core curriculum standards and also says the
Bible should be taught as part of "
American history." The platform also opposes the current administration’s alleged "distortion of
Title IX to micromanage" how higher education institutions handle sexual assault investigations. On foreign policy , the platform sees the
Iran nuclear deal as a "non-binding" agreement for the next president. The draft calls for legislation to "protect the national grid," pushing states to take action against the Chinese and
Russian threat of electromagnetic pulse weapons, seeing an electromagnetic pulse as "no longer a theoretical concern." (As Yglesias notes, scientists don’t think this threat is real. ) On domestic political institutions , the platform calls for an "audit" of the
Federal Reserve. It also maintains support for the
Electoral College system and rebuffs a move to assign a president based on the
...
- published: 18 Jul 2016
- views: 5