Will MAGA let Trump pull the party platform to the left?

While Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters project their hopes on the big man to make America great again, it appears the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is on a mission to have his most notorious acronym stand for “make America gay again.”

At a time when poll after poll shows that Republican voters (and many independents) have increasingly soured on the absurd idea of gay marriage, a 16-page draft of the new party platform circulated on Monday by the Trump campaign to platform committee members completely erases the party’s opposition to gay marriage.

If we adopt the Democratic Party’s policies as our own, what’s the point? We might as well go the way of the Tories.

Here is the operative wording from a draft first obtained by the Washington Post and later made public:

The new platform draft also removes language from 2016 condemning the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to grant same-sex couples the right to marry. The new language does not weigh in on same-sex marriage at all. “Republicans will promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage, the blessings of childhood, and the foundational role of families, and supports working parents,” it says instead. “We will end policies that punish families.”

We already knew Trump was seeking to remove the goal of a national abortion ban from the party, and this draft reflects that idea. It only briefly mentions opposition to late-term abortion. But the clause on marriage shows that Trump’s leftward shift goes beyond concerns about the pro-abortion movement’s electoral strength. It is much more systemic.

A ‘Harriet Miers moment’?

Remember, since winning the primary, Trump has endorsed nearly every liberal down-ballot candidate. He has stymied conservatives fighting the agenda of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). He has endorsed Ukraine funding, opposed the repeal of Obamacare, thrown cold water on the Bud Light boycott, expressed support for a new FBI building, argued for an increase in immigration, and won’t even commit as a Florida resident to opposing the abortion referendum on the ballot, which would enshrine a right to murder up until birth.

In fact, even as Trump says he wants to “leave abortion to the states,” he specifically pressured the Arizona legislature to repeal its anti-abortion law. Apparently, letting the states decide is a one-way street.

All of this is happening as Trump elevates figures like Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), neocon technocrats whom his ardent supporters have opposed in the past. This occurs against the backdrop of him attacking Project 2025, a Steve Bannon-endorsed initiative to set the policy and personnel agenda for Trump's administration to avoid the “Javanka” globalism issues from his first term. The Trump campaign not only rejected this agenda but also made it clear it will ignore the “conservative LinkedIn” set up by his loyalists to hire MAGA-only applicants for administrative positions. Meanwhile, billionaires like Bill Ackman are promising to staff Trump’s administration.

All these betrayals in such a short period should give conservatives pause and motivate them to voice displeasure. Trump needs a “Harriet Miers moment.” Back in 2005, conservatives made it clear that George W. Bush’s nomination of his personal counsel to the U.S. Supreme Court was unacceptable. Thanks to pushback, we have enjoyed the jurisprudence of Samuel Alito for nearly two decades. I’m sure glad we didn’t have losers on the right back then telling us to shut up and not express our dissatisfaction with the GOP leader because, “Do you want the Democrat?”

Normalizing liberalism

Which brings us back to the party platform. Trump’s agenda to remake the platform is further proof that his leftward lurch is not just a temporary strategic choice to win an election but a permanent paradigm shift for governing more aligned with Britain’s Rishi Sunak and France’s Emmanuel Macron than Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen.

The new platform aims to replace the social and fiscal conservatism disliked by some, which was adopted by two successive Trump-led conventions, without any committee meetings or amendment votes. Unlike abortion, an issue on which Republicans seem to be losing ground, they are gaining traction against the rainbow jihad, with growing opposition to gay marriage and even stronger opposition to the transgender agenda.

There is no need to moderate on these issues, even when considering the old establishment’s tendency to abandon conservatism when it temporarily loses in polls. Yet the draft, shaped by carefully selected delegates, shows that Trump essentially supports Bruce Jenner’s view: acknowledging transgenderism as real and important while arguing for the protection of female sports and opposing funding for minors’ castration.

Here is how the Washington Post explains the new platform in the context of the existing one:

The new platform stops short of seeking to bar parents from seeking medical treatment for minor children, while condemning any taxpayer funding of such procedures. “We will keep men out of women’s sports, ban taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, and stop taxpayer-funded schools from promoting gender transition, reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX education regulations, and restore protections for women and girls,” the new platform says.

Jenner and Ric Grenell have long propagated this party line: Accept the premise of the homosexual and transgender agenda, but oppose a few of its more unpopular policies. This explains the absence of mentions of bathrooms, drag shows, or adoption issues. Additionally, the only two fundraisers held by Trump’s wife this cycle have been for the Log Cabin Republicans, whose entire purpose is to normalize homosexuality within the GOP. Bruce Jenner is also slated to speak at the convention and be introduced as “Caitlyn” to normalize that behavior on the right.

So vociferous were party leaders in their pursuit to normalize liberalism in the platform that they tried to block social conservative delegates from the platform committee. I’ve heard from several socially conservative party delegates from Southern states that they were offered any committee of their choice at the RNC — as long as it wasn’t the platform committee.

A bulwark against the uniparty

Meantime, the lukewarm Republican chairman of the Missouri GOP just led his executive committee in an unprecedented maneuver to nullify the delegates chosen by the convention activists in favor of a new establishment slate. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) warned against watering down the platform on life and marriage, but those warnings ring hollow if they are not followed up with a Harriet Miers moment.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) just suggested that the party platform should reflect Trump’s most recent views. He is exactly wrong. Trump is what he is at this point. What we need is a bulwark against the uniparty down the ballot in the GOP and the red states because clearly Trump, while superior to Biden, will not be that bulwark.

Accusing those of us concerned with Trump’s direction of preferring Biden and the Democrats is a straw man. You can still nominate Trump at the convention while working to reverse the platform’s damage over the next few days. But if we adopt the Democratic Party’s policies as our own, what’s the point? We might as well go the way of the Tories.