It seemed alarming enough this week when Republican officials added a provision to the national platform labeling pornography “a public health crisis” and a “public menace” that is destroying lives. But as it turn out, the party wasn’t done moving even further to the right.
Republicans tasked with drafting a policy document that guides and defines the GOP has completed its work, effectively moving the party further to the right on issues of guns, immigration, and traditional marriage. […]After the committee completed its work Tuesday, aides to Trump said they are pleased with the product. It now must be approved by the delegates on the floor of the Republican National Convention Monday.
Perhaps the perfect encapsulation of the platform drafting process came yesterday, when Republican officials considered language that would have acknowledged that LGBT people have been targeted by ISIS with “violence and oppression.”
The platform committee rejected the proposal. Even this was a bit too far for Republicans.
It was that kind of process for GOP officials — who also felt compelled to change “illegal immigrant” to “illegal alien” in the platform, just because.
Similarly, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach successfully championed an amendment voicing the party’s opposition to any measure that would restrict magazine capacity in firearms.
That passed around the time the Republican platform committee endorsed the construction of an actual, physical wall along the U.S./Mexico border — just like Donald Trump wants.
A Washington Post report added that the new draft platform moves the GOP “closer to the base, and away from the broader public.”
That’s true, of course, though Republicans are less concerned about being a mainstream party, and more focused on remaining a conservative party. If that means taking deliberate steps to put the GOP out of step with mainstream American priorities, so be it.
If Republicans are very lucky, the vast majority of Americans will have no idea what’s in the party’s new platform.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."