In Toy Story 2, the band of very alive playthings had to cross a busy highway, which they managed to do in safety while leaving behind a massive wreck of cars and trucks. One of them, Mr. Potato Head, quipped, “That went well.” Welcome to this year’s version of the Republican-platform process.
There has been scant media coverage of the actual proceedings of last Monday, which were rammed through in a matter of hours in a secure room. The totally excluded press could report only the downsizing of the document and, some would say, its gutting of the GOP’s traditional opposition to abortion. But much information was available if anyone bothered to speak to delegates afterwards, and it reveals the extent to which the 2024 experience was a radical break with the rules and procedures followed by the GOP for many decades (as I explained last week).
By tradition, delegates would receive a draft document the night before the kickoff. This time, they were told Donald Trump was personally editing the document, and so they would get it in the morning. The chairman, ordinarily announced no later than May, was not named until Sunday night, along with the subcommittee chairmen. But there were no subcommittees to join. On Monday, with delegates herded into a large room, all phones had to be locked in pouches. No laptops or iPads were allowed.
A few guests were seated in a special section, along with a campaign staffer whose job was to follow anyone who left to ensure their silence to the outside world. In one case, this meant following a woman to the ladies’ room. It is not known whether he followed anyone through lavatory doors while hunting down leakers.
During the initial roll call, each delegate was given a number. Some numbers were screamed by the roll caller as if to alert other delegates to the troublemakers – i.e., pro-life conservatives. Each delegate’s number was also printed above his or her platform’s abortion language so that, if someone managed to send that info outside, the culprit would be known.
Much of the morning was devoted to politically devotional speeches and the responses to those speeches. Then the chairman moved for consideration of the document. There were only two microphones in the room, each guarded by a Trump delegate ready to call the question when ordered, making it impossible for most of the delegates to speak.
On each motion, a campaign staffer walked across the room holding a sign telling delegates how to vote. A green poster board with YES in bold black letters meant yea, a red poster with NO in bold letters meant nay. The entire process took about 45 minutes. Then, it was abruptly cut off by a motion to call the question on the entire document.
When a nationally prominent delegate asked the chairman about rules for filing a minority report, the chair refused to provide them. Platform Executive Director Randy Evans, the former ambassador to Luxembourg, observed with snark that, by planning a minority report, the delegate knew he was already facing defeat. Not exactly a diplomatic response. But neither diplomacy nor courtesy nor trust were strong points of the Trump operation.
All this too shall pass. And as it does, while conservatives debate the virtues and vices of Trump’s extraordinary talking-point platform, they might give thought to ensuring that delegates to future Republican platform processes are treated with the liberty and respect that has, until now, been the party’s norm.
How to do that? It must begin with the timely naming of House, Senate, and gubernatorial chairmen, selected by the Republican leaders of the Senate and House. The deference to the Trump campaign shown this year by Senator McConnell and Speaker Johnson, with regard to both the choices and the timing, was a shocking departure from the norm.
Indeed, in 2012 Senator McConnell went to the Senate floor to announce his choice: Senator Hoeven of North Dakota — who did a first-rate job as co-chairman — without even alerting the platform office in advance. So they do have the power to act on their own. Once those chairmen are named, they are in charge of everything. They can approve or disapprove the selection of the executive director, making it unlikely that that person would take orders from any campaign, unlike this year. They can likewise decide who drafts the document, making sure that the writer does not take dictation from any candidate. All campaigns and all candidates can give advice to the platform staff, but none can give orders or receive inside information.
The later the identity of the Republican nominee is determined, the better this system works. It means the platform can be drafted with an eye to all the presidential contenders, all the conflicting Republican interests, all the contingencies inherent in uncertainty. It means an open and fair process, which is the best foundation for party unity, and November success, no matter who is nominated.