While most media outlets are suddenly obsessed with talking about Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities (something we already figured out long ago), and the Democrats are engaging in public catfights, Donald Trump and his campaign have wisely remained, for the most part, pretty quiet on this issue. Some wondered if this reflects a “new Trump,” one who has learned to be more disciplined and resist calling attention to himself while following Napoleon’s rule of never interrupting an enemy when he’s making a mistake.

Well, the Trump campaign finally broke its silence on that question and the good news is that yes, they are being downright Napoleonic. They told Fox News Digital, "Democrats are in disarray. Why get in the way of them shooting at each other?" 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-focused-campaigning-dems-in-disarray-amid-biden-chaos

(Before leftists start wailing that they’re advocating violence against their political opponents – you know, like leftists do – I should point out that they meant that figuratively.)

Personally, I don’t want this newsletter to be filled every day with endless back-and-forth about whether or not Biden will make it to the Democratic Convention (literally or figuratively.) We’ll give you some of the more interesting stories to keep you up to date, and when he says something particularly unhinged while denying that he’s unhinged, we’ll pass it along (see elsewhere in today’s newsletter), but I agree with this Substack article by John Lucas:

He makes the case that Republicans should take advantage of the Democrats’ disarray to tell voters how they are going to fix all the problems created by the Democrats and not get distracted by the Biden’s Brain Brouhaha. After all, as I’ve pointed out repeatedly, no matter who their candidate is, it will just be a different face on the same ruinous leftist policies. The policy differences are what matters, and what will remain unchanged right up until Election Day.

To that end, I was glad to see that Trump is not only staying above the fray, he also released a document approved by the RNC Platform Committee, summarizing the new GOP platform in 20 succinct points.

https://www.westernjournal.com/trump-touts-gops-new-2024-platform-party-common-sense/

The new platform makes it clear that the GOP has moved away from the old establishment and is now under the Trump “Make America Great Again” banner. Trump calls it a “forward-looking agenda” that affirms the GOP as the “party of common sense.” Here is the list of 20 points, and I doubt you’ll find much you disagree with, from sealing the border and deporting illegal aliens to tax cuts for working people to strengthening the military to keeping men out of women’s sports.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR_ioIabsAAGQEA?format=jpg&name=medium

Two things you won’t find mentioned in the list, though, are support for traditional marriage or a federal ban on abortion. Trump has already said that after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and returned that issue to the states, he believes that’s where it belongs. It would also be virtually impossible to get a federal ban past the Senate's 60-vote filibuster threshold. And while the right to life isn’t mentioned in the 20 bullet points, it is addressed in the full platform. It states that “Republicans will protect and defend a vote of the people, from within the states, on the issue of life.” It says that “We proudly stand for families and Life” and believe that the 14^th Amendment “guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process,” and “We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”

While that’s all good, as you can see in the linked article, it was a deep disappointment to many in the pro-life community who see it as a downgrade from previous GOP platform statements on the sanctity of life. You can count me among them.

The overall platform for the GOP is commendable for its brevity and clarity since most years the platform rarely is the actual roadmap for what will be legislated by Congress or the President.  The 20 points in the outline are solid conservative and Constitutional principles that Republicans should be able to agree upon and which articulate to the American voters what an “America First” policy looks like.

That said, I would have hoped for at least a mention that our party is still the only option for those of us for whom the sanctity of life is a critical and necessary affirmation of civilization.  Had I been asked (but I wasn’t), I would have added this:

“As Republicans, we recognize there is wide disparity of view and conviction regarding government’s role in regulating end-of-life issues, be it by abortion or euthanasia, but we unapologetically believe that every life has intrinsic worth and value, and the notion of some lives being disposable or expendable is troubling.  We recognize that good and decent people differ on whether there should be exceptions, time limits, safeguards, or criteria for end-of-life decisions, but we are united that the notion that the radical view of Democrats to support abortion up until the moment of birth or at any time during a pregnancy for any reason, or to support doctor-assisted suicide, is unacceptable for civilized people who should value human life as sacred.”

The pro-life and pro-traditional marriage view is still the prevailing view of rank-and-file Republicans and the absence of explicit language to that effect is disappointing, but the Democrats having taken the radical and extreme position on all issues of life, marriage, and sexuality, Republicans offer the only political home for traditional or Biblical views of these issues.

Related: Here’s one theory on why the Democrats are so obsessed with abortion, defending the barbaric practice right up to the moment of birth, even as Biden denies that that’s their position. Turns out the only voting bloc that really wants Biden to stay as the candidate is single, college-educated women whose only issue is abortion. If he loses them, he’s burnt toast.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/07/08/dem-rep-highlights-the-most-loyal-voter-group-that-wants-biden-to-remain-in-the-race-n2641553