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Roundup: U.S. Republican convention adopts Trump-style platform

Xinhua, July 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The U.S. Republican National Convention adopted the party's platform for the 2016 elections on Monday with rich Donald Trump style, vowing to lead a turnaround from the policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

"We believe in American exceptionalism," the 66-page document writes at the beginning, echoing the "America First" speech on foreign affairs by Trump during the primaries.

Claiming "America has been led in the wrong direction" under the Obama presidency, the GOP platform finds common grounds shared by the Republican establishment and the New York real estate mogul.

"Our enemies no longer fear us and our friends no longer trust us," the document laments, accusing that the Obama government has made U.S. economy "unnecessarily weak" and the U.S. standing in world affairs decline significantly. All are high-frequency sayings in the Trump campaign.

"In all of our country's history, there is no parallel to what President Obama and his former Secretary of State have done to weaken our nation," said the GOP's roadmap.

Moreover, the platform, viewed by Texas delegate David Barton as "the most conservative platform in modern history," resonates to Trump's tone while starkly contrasting with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party when listing social policies.

On marriage, it said "we do not accept the Supreme Court's redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal."

On abortion, it said, "We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed."

The platform also seeks a repeal of the so-called "Obamacare," as "It weighs like the dead hand of the past upon American medicine."

Besides, on economic growth, the Republicans consider the establishment of a pro-growth tax code a moral imperative.

Following Trump on the United States' foreign trade, the platform calls for "better negotiated trade agreements that put America first."

On foreign policy, the GOP platform sees the Iran nuclear deal as a "non-binding" agreement for the future Republican president.

"The Republican Party's platform provides good insight into the direction the GOP is looking to take. This is particularly illuminating since Trump has been rather mum on policy issues on the campaign trail," a local media report commented.

Late in the deep night, Obama refuted in a letter emailed to Clinton's online supporters, saying "The Republicans will attack everything we stand for at their convention."

"The Republican convention will show how wrong the GOP's ideas are for Americans, and that Hillary is the president we need," said Obama.

However, though fiercely attacking the Obama government, the GOP platform did share with the Democrats on goals like keeping American military superiority in the world and securing the U.S. leadership in the Asian Pacific area, local analysts noted.

Trump is expected to be formally nominated as the party's standard-bearer during the four-day GOP convention ending Thursday. Endi