WASHINGTON — Republican Party platforms rarely matter, and this year's version is unlikely to be a road map for a Donald Trump White House. But it will be a valuable document, and increasingly one worth fighting over — Republican congressional candidates can use it to distance themselves from their volatile presidential nominee.
Republicans are in danger this year of losing their Senate majority. Tossup states such as Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania have big blocs of Democrats and independents. Voters could have a hard time warming to Trump.
So GOP candidates will have that platform, a sort of divorce decree from Trump if necessary, to show that theirs is still the party that for more than 40 years has staunchly favored lower taxes, less government, a muscular defense and has fiercely opposed abortion.
The platform can also serve as balm for insiders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who are holding back their support, waiting to see if Trump does adopt firm conservative ideas and unifies the party.
"Usually at this point the nominee has stopped worrying about the base of the party," said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union. That makes platform-writing almost a rote exercise.
But Trump ran as an outsider and doesn't really know most of the party players, and so the platform presents "a real opportunity for the Trump campaign to show what it's thinking, and to unify conservatives," Schlapp said.
The fear isn't that those conservatives will turn Democratic. The worry is they won't vote at all, and that could cost Republicans control of the Senate. Seven GOP-held seats are in states President Barack Obama won in 2012.
Many of those senators aren't crazy about Trump. "Donald Trump was not my first choice. He wasn't my second choice or third or fourth choice. I have ... differences with Donald Trump and lots of problems with him, but I am absolutely in the 'never Hillary Clinton' camp," Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., told Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia last week.
Trump, whose campaign did not respond to requests for comment, has already triggered alarms, saying last month he wanted abortion permissible when it involved rape, incest or protecting the life of the mother.
Phyllis Schlafly, long a major player in writing GOP platforms, met with Trump before endorsing him in March in St. Louis and handed him a copy of the 2012 platform, which says flatly "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."
A month later, Trump made his abortion remarks. Schlafly and other activists seem unconcerned. She noted that "presidential candidates have no role in writing or adopting the platform." Republican Chairman Reince Priebus echoed that sentiment Friday. When asked at a Politico Playbook breakfast if the GOP was now Trump's party, he said, "It's the party's party."
Trump has signaled he'll side with conservatives and back the appointment of conservative judges, lower tax rates, gun rights, and a promise to curb or repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The most public conflict could involve same-sex marriage. The 2012 platform backed the rights of governments not to recognize same-sex marriage. It also urged a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Same-sex marriage supporters' best hope is to strike that language, said Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP gay rights group. He saw two promising signs: His group and other platform change advocates have been courting potential delegates for some time, and Trump has a history of being sympathetic to gay rights.
The other possibility for some public ugliness involves immigration. Republican officials have tried for years to project an image of tolerance and inclusion, and made a strong effort to attract Latino voters after 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney won 27 percent of the Hispanic vote.
Along came Trump, promising to build a huge wall between the United States and Mexico. He ignited a furor during his announcement speech last year when he said of Mexican immigrants, "They're bringing drugs; they're bringing crime. They're rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they're telling us what we're getting."
Trump has tried to soften his image somewhat, posing Thursday eating a taco bowl and tweeting, "Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics."
Trump hasn't backed down from his eagerness for a wall, but Priebus expressed cautious optimism that Trump will continue to reach out.
"He's trying, and honestly, he's trying and I will tell you what — I honestly think he understands that building and unifying and growing the party is the only way we're going to win," the chairman told the Playbook breakfast, "and I think he gets that."
Chances are savvy insiders will control the platform process, making adoption of any incendiary ideas a longshot. Their mission will be to produce a strong conservative agenda.
As a result, the outlook for same-sex marriage, and any other attempt to soften the platform's hardline conservative planks, or insert language insensitive to Mexican-Americans, probably won't go far.
The goal remains to have a document that candidates up and down the ballot can cite as the Republican party's manifesto, regardless of Trump.
Remember, said Schlapp, "the platform is always a unifying document for conservatives."
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