The Grand Old Party Finds New Meaning

By: Chris Johnson

The political landscape has shifted immensely in the past five days.

It began with the revelation of the watered-down Republican Platform in the middle of last week, an event which in retrospect was only the ripple in the water glass which hints at the foundations shifting beneath our feet. The ripples deepened and we began to hear a rumbling as the GOP, which for the past eight years has officially stood on the principal that “Every child deserves a married mom and dad. Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society,” platformed a porn star who stated on the first day of their convention, “I realized Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay or straight. It’s all love…”

She shared the stage with a Sikh, who led the assembly in prayer to her false deity.

It’s become obvious that – even as we’ve been debating, over the past four years particularly – whether the future of the country would be shaped by Democrats or Republicans, the very meaning of those labels has changed.

And, ironically, it may be the porn star who has most eloquently defined the new dividing line: “American families were better when Donald Trump was president. We were safer, wealthier, and stronger. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote to put money back in our pockets and good food on our kids’ plates…”

Trump confirmed that as a priority in his campaign by naming first term Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate. Prior to being elected Senator, Vance was known only for his best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which highlighted the struggles of low-income, rural American families at the hands of their own government policies.

Of course, the “big one” hit prior to the convention, with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, and perhaps even more so with his instant and courageous response. The picture of his fist in the air, blood on his face, and his lips in the act of forming the word “fight” is a powerful one. While Republican insiders have fantasized for every election in my memory about a “big tent,” the influx which such imagery inspired is more than they could have dreamed of.

The Republican base – social conservatives, Evangelical Christians, traditionalists – are now looking around inside this tent and finding that we share it with the likes of Peter Thiel – homosexual venture capitalist, Amber Rose – a “Slut Walk” organizer, Kaitlyn (Bruce) Jenner – transgender activist, etc.

The Republican party is clearly not the party of conservative Christians any longer. The question is, what is the Republican party and can conservative Christians be a part of it?

If we look to the 2024 platform, which the Trump campaign reportedly rammed through, the party stands for a return to “Common Sense,” which it reduces to these 20 points:

* SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION

* CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY

* END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN

* MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!

* STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER

* LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!

* DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

* PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY — ALL MADE IN AMERICA

* END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

* STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS

* REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.

* STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD

* KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY

* FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE

* CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS

* CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN

* KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS

* DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN

* SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

* UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS

These are goals that conservative Christians, to varying degrees, have been pursuing for years. And we find ourselves, somehow, joined in this pursuit by homosexuals, porn stars, at least a handful of transgenders, and certainly many pro-choice voters whom we couldn’t keep out of the party, even if all the conservative Christians in the party agreed we wanted to.

Many of us have sworn all our lives we’d never vote for a pro-choice candidate and we’re not about to start now. You will not participate in, or signal your approval of child sacrifice for the sake of national security and prosperity. If that’s you, I respect that.

Many others of us, probably most, will read that list, swallow your disappointment that protecting the lives of the unborn isn’t on it, and enthusiastically vote to “Make America (as) Great (as possible) Again” in November, while working to make the lives of the unborn a priority again in the future. I can respect that too.

Either way, it seems that contenders for the RIGHT to life can no longer look to the institution of the Republican Party as a given ally. Donald Trump has single-handedly redefined what it means to be a “Republican,” and according to his son Eric, this new platform reflects where Trump has always been on these issues. So, no matter where you land on voting this November, if you’re pro-life, the project now is not just to win over the whole country, but to win back the GOP.

 

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