Trump arrives at the Republican convention as the absolute leader and with a program in his own image

As President Joe Biden sought to dispel doubts about his candidacy, his campaign launched a seemingly cryptic message on social media this week: “Google Project 2025.” That’s the name of the Republicans’ supposed hidden agenda, the master plan that aims to overhaul the executive branch and dismantle the federal government if Donald Trump is re-elected president. But Trump, 78, relieved by the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity — and the resulting delay in the sentencing of the president — said he was “not willing to accept the election.” Stormy Daniels case—, arrives with little baggage to the Republican Party’s national convention, which takes place between this Monday, July 15 and Thursday, July 18, in Milwaukee. Compared to the 900 pages of Project 2025, Trump needs only the 16 pages of the party’s electoral program, which is only 20 points long and made in his image and likeness. Trump, who this Saturday had to be evacuated from a rally in Butler (Pennsylvania) after an alleged attack, is the leader who has shaped the program, and not the other way around; something especially notable on two issues: immigration and abortion. His coronation as candidate, on Thursday, will also be the grave of the few critical voices, if there were any left in his ranks.

Although Democrats insist on linking him, the former president has done everything possible to distance himself from Project 2025, the spearhead of the “second American revolution” hatched by the think tank The ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, because its radicalism could alienate the undecided or independent voters who will determine the outcome in November and for whom both parties are fighting. That is why the program adopted this Monday by the Republican Party takes a dim view on the issue of abortion, the defense of which has been one of the Democrats’ main electoral assets since 2022, when the Supreme Court repealed the right.

The official Republican platform, dedicated to “the forgotten men and women of America,” will be approved on the first day of the convention on Monday. It squarely adopts Trump’s position that abortion is a matter for the states, not Washington, and no longer mentions the federal ban or protection of the fetus under the Constitution, aspects that were included in the 2016 and 2020 platforms at the urging of influential evangelicals.

The nonbinding platform also promises to build a missile defense shield over the U.S. and “the largest deportation in history” of illegal immigrants from the country. If he wins in November, the tax cuts of his previous presidency will become permanent, as well as “tax cuts for workers,” a first (his presidency’s tax policy favored the highest incomes and corporations). Among the 20 points of the program, all of them in ominous capital letters in the leaked document, are a declaration of war on foreign drug cartels, a proposal to “deport pro-Hamas radicals so that our campuses are safe and patriotic again” (point 18, a reference to the large university mobilization in solidarity with Gaza) and also that public funds be used to pay tuition fees at private schools.

In education, the Republican platform digs even deeper into the culture wars trenches, with proposals such as “cutting off federal funding to any school that promotes critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other racial, sexual, or political content inappropriate for our children.” The next point, point 17, ensures that a possible Republican administration will “keep (trans) men out of women’s sports.”

The fight against illegal immigration

This week, Republicans will present Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the convention, the natural choice if President Joe Biden were to drop out of the race, as the “border czarina” —the role she was given in 2021— but in a derogatory tone, to denounce her alleged incompetence. Because even above the economy (with proposals as vague as “ending inflation and making America affordable again,” point 3), the fight against illegal immigration, which mimics Trump’s message, is the keystone of the program from the first two points: “Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” and “carry out the largest deportation in US history.” It also links foreigners to violence: “Stop the migrant crime Pandemic, dismantle foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence and lock up violent criminals.” Again, it is Trump’s words that resonate above the party.

Foreign policy is resolved in a vague catch-all: “Prevent World War III, restore peace in Europe and the Middle East, and build a great Iron Dome of missile defense over our entire country, all made in America.” As he promised in the debate against Biden on June 27, the Republican wants to end the war in Ukraine with a stroke of the pen, and also the one in Gaza, but the real echo of the program is the self-absorption of the autarky and isolationism that characterized his presidency (2017-2021).

The “second American revolution”

Although this is the program officialwhich will be adopted by the convention, doubts about the possibility that Project 2025 is Trump’s hidden agenda if he returns to the White House are pertinent for many. First, because the Heritage Foundation is a think tank which has shaped the policies and teams of Republican administrations since the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Also because the project was largely formulated by former Trump advisers, who could well return to their offices if luck does not smile on the Democrats in November.

Despite this clear precedent, the candidate insists on distancing himself from this parallel agenda out of pure electoral calculation, with undecided and independent voters in mind. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he wrote in Truth Social. “I have no idea who is behind it. I don’t agree with some of the things they are saying and some of the things they are saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. [En] Whatever they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” Project 2025’s goals include eliminating LGBTI+ rights and transfusing Christianity into society, but also, as a form of undermining aided by some recent Supreme Court decisions —those against environmental regulatory agencies, for example—, expanding presidential powers and reforming the federal government so that career officials can be replaced by loyalists.

The Heritage Foundation’s belligerent ads suggest that Project 2025 will be a wedge in the Republicans’ woodwork. Its president celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity with the following message on X (formerly Twitter): “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it.” The echo of the violent assault on the Capitol, which Trump harangued, is more than explicit in the statement. And to warm up the engines, the ultra-conservative group has spread the rumor that Biden would resort to force to remain in the White House if he loses. Thus promoting the same false allegations of electoral fraud that fueled Trump’s attempts to stay in office, including the Capitol riot, and turning the narrative on its head about which candidate represents the greatest threat to the country’s democratic traditions (exactly the reverse of Biden’s efforts to safeguard a threatened democracy).

The ultra-conservative foundation has also hinted that the current president Biden could try to occupy the White House “by force” if he loses in November, something that the Democrats rejected outright on Thursday. But the truth is that, in a clear demonstration of power, as if this week’s Sanhedrin were a call from the Heritage Foundation and not from the party, large signs hanging at the Milwaukee airport inform newcomers: “Heritage welcomes you to the Republican National Convention.”

A convicted felon but so far unscathed, Trump is preparing to be crowned emperor. Just a few months ago he faced a grim prospect: accepting his party’s nomination with some convictions on his back and probably a final sentence. Thanks to the Supreme Court, the one from Stormy Daniels case has been postponed until September. The one who shows up in Milwaukee will be an exempt Trump, with a lighter backpack. Even more emboldened if such a condition, inherent to his person, allows degrees: his team of lawyers urged the judge on Thursday Stormy Daniels case to dismiss his conviction in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. truce judicial system, there are huge doubts surrounding Biden’s candidacy. With Trump, there seems to be only room for the red carpet.

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