Platform diving

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What's in the Shorter, Friendlier Version of the Trump Agenda? 

IN 2020, FOR Donald Trump's reelection campaign, the Republican Party voted not to adopt a new platform. Back then, the party was still adjusting to the reality of one-person rule and to the incoherence and capriciousness of that one person, so instead of discussing and negotiating how to reconcile the party's existing policy priorities with Trump's ever-evolving rally applause lines, the Republican establishment formally re-endorsed its 2016 platform and practically left its agenda blank, to be filled in with whatever Trump wanted. 

Four years later, though, the party has fully adapted. On Monday, it released the final draft of its 2024 platform, to be officially adopted at the Republican National Convention next week. 

Here was the opening of the preamble to the old platform, eight years ago:

We believe in American exceptionalism.

We believe the United States of America is unlike any other nation on earth.

We believe America is exceptional because of our historic role — first as refuge, then as defender, and now as exemplar of liberty for the world to see.

And here is how the 2024 platform opens:

Our Nation's History is filled with the stories of brave men and women who gave everything they had to build America into the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. Generations of American Patriots have summoned the American Spirit of Strength, Determination, and Love of Country to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. The American People have proven time and again that we can overcome any obstacle and any force pitted against us.

Even in the patriotic boilerplate, there's the imprint of a particular hand on the shift key. What was packaged as a universal declaration in 2016 is now rendered in the with-me-or-against-me style of a Trump social media post, capitalized in a way that defeats—or, more precisely, insults—rational analysis. "History" is capitalized in the opening paragraph, but "future" is lowercase in the third, only to be capitalized, once and only once, later in the document. Why? To ask why is to admit to being the enemy.