RNC 2020: Republicans to forego party platform to instead give full support to Trump’s agenda

James Crump
·3 min read
An RNC sign glows outside the Charlotte Convention Centre's Richardson Ballroom where delegates will gather for the roll call vote to renominate Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States and Mike Pence to be Vice President at the Republican National Convention at the Charlotte Convention Centre on 24 August 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina: (2020 Getty Images)

The Republican Party has confirmed that it will not adopt a new platform during the Republican National Convention, and will instead “reassert the party’s strong support for president Donald Trump and his administration.”

On Sunday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released a statement that confirmed that the party will not adopt policies at the convention this week, despite it traditionally being the way to give details on ideas and goals for the next four years, according to HuffPost.

The statement read: “The RNC has unanimously voted to forego the Convention Committee on Platform, in appreciation of the fact that it did not want a small contingent of delegates formulating a new platform without the breadth of perspectives within the ever-growing Republican movement.”

The announcement followed a vote in June, where the executive committee decided to adopt the 2016 platform for November’s presidential election.

They voted to repeat the platform, because the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible for the thousands of national delegates to meet up and vote on changes, according to LGBTQ Nation.

In the statement on Sunday, the RNC claimed that if the committee had being able to meet, that it “would have undoubtedly unanimously agreed to reassert the party’s strong support for president Donald Trump and his administration.”

The statement added: “The Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the president’s America-first agenda.”

The party’s 2016 platform opposed same-sex marriage and transgender military personnel, and supported LGBT+ conversion therapy and the rights of businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples, according to LGBTQ Nation.

Party platforms are often detailed and explain the ideas, plans and goals for the next four years, and the Republican platform was 54 pages in 2016 and the 2020 Democratic one is 91 pages, according to MarketWatch.

When the RNC voted to keep the 2016 platform in June, president Trump tweeted: “The Republican Party has not yet voted on a Platform. No rush. I prefer a new and updated Platform, short form, if possible.”

Although the party did not release a platform on Sunday, the Trump campaign announced the president’s second term agenda, that included 49 bulleted core priorities, but did not include detailed policy plans.

The agenda includes broad pledges that aim to “return to normal in 2021” after eradicating Covid-19, ending the US’ “reliance on China” and creating “10 million new jobs in 10 months.”

During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, president Trump said that in a second term, he would “strengthen what we’ve done and I would do new things.”

The convention, that will mainly take place virtually due to the pandemic, is scheduled for Monday to Thursday this week, with Mr Trump delivering a speech each night before accepting the Republican nomination on Thursday.

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RNC votes to keep platform that calls for ban on same-sex marriage