Former President Donald Trump faced angry conservatives ahead of the Republican National Convention (RNC).
The RNC is set to start next Friday, July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an important swing state in the 2024 election, where Republican delegates are expected to nominate Trump as the official presidential candidate. The convention comes as Trump continues to lead in key swing states, while Democrats publicly question whether President Joe Biden, who won the most delegates in the Democratic primary, should remain the nominee amid concerns about his age.
Despite the positive developments for Trump’s campaign, he still faced the ire of many conservatives weeks before the convention amid a backlash over the Republican Party’s platform and speaker lineup at the convention.
Newsweek The Trump campaign was reached for comment via email.
Some conservatives are furious over the party platform’s language on abortion, which will likely be a deciding issue in November.
The platform, drafted by Trump and his team, did not include a call for a federal abortion ban, but said the issue should be left to the states.
The position is largely in line with what Trump has said publicly as abortion has become a sore spot for Republicans, who face electoral losses after the US Supreme Court reversed. Roe v. Wadethe decades-old case that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide, in 2022.
But the omission caused a backlash from conservatives who are more opposed to reproductive rights.
Former Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter: “The RNC platform is a huge disappointment to millions of pro-life Republicans who have always looked to the Republican Party for survival.”
“Now is not the time to give up ground in the fight for the right to life. Platform 2024 removes the historical pro-life principles that have long been the basis of the platform. Our party platform recognizes the sanctity of human life and affirms that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life without can be violated,” Pence wrote.
Gayle Ruzicka, a member of the platform committee from Utah, told WISN12News Milwaukee that the campaign is “failing us.”
“I’ve never seen this happen before. I don’t know why they did it, and I’m very disappointed that we don’t have pro-life language,” she said.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley defended the platform in remarks to reporters Monday night.
“We have a very solid pro-life platform. We feel very strongly about it. I think you can just see the number of pro-life groups from all over the country that have come and said they support this platform,” he said.
Elsewhere, the conservative organization Advancing American Freedom on Tuesday released a memo titled “Calling Balls and Strikes on the RNC Platform,” warning that it is “regressing in life and global leadership, while ignoring the position of the Republican Party on several issues. .”
The group took issue with a platform that supports tariffs, does not have a “clear plan” to address China and does not adequately address Ukraine or Taiwan.
In addition to taking issue with the platform’s stance on abortion, the group also raised concerns about a number of domestic policies including not addressing TikTok, rejecting reforms to Social Security and Medicare and language on same-sex marriage.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, expressed concern about the process for using the platform. He wrote in a statement that delegates were “only given a few minutes of discussion” before the debate on the platform ended and a vote was taken.
“Unfortunately, the choreographed process – which does not allow amendments to be debated or voted on – does not suit the party that champions free speech and due process,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, other conservatives have criticized the RNC speaker lineup, especially after celebrity personality Amber Rose was confirmed as a speaker.
“Now, under Trump’s total takeover of the RNC, the GOP will be represented at the convention by Amber Rose who believes in ’empowering the LGBTQ+ community’, ‘ending sexual, social injustice, derogatory labeling, and gender inequality’.
Congressional candidate Dr. Maria Peiro then challenged Trump supporters, asking: “Conservatives who voted for Trump in the primary, how would you like to be represented by a woke, pro-trans, socialist at the GOP convention?”
Others noted that prominent Republicans challenging Trump for the nomination, such as former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, were absent from the convention.
“George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis have not been invited to speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week. But don’t worry. Rapper and model Amber Rose will give a speech. ,” post account X Republicans Against Trump.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for a common field.