‘Imago MAGA’ rises at the 2024 RNC

The 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee made it clear that the conservative movement has been stamped with the “imago MAGA” and remade in the image of Donald Trump.

It’s not just me saying this. Even the former president’s advisers have said so. One of his top campaign aides was quoted in a recent New York Times article saying, “Donald Trump has put the imprint, quite frankly, that he should have had in 2016 and 2020 on the party as a whole in 2024.”

If the new Republican Party takes similar positions on LGBT issues and abortion in 10 years as Democrats do today, then Christian engagement in politics will look very different in the future.

There was a lot of debate between conservatives online after the first day of the convention because the model and television personality Amber Rose was invited to give a short speech describing her conversion from Never Trump to pro-MAGA. She spoke about her identity as a mother who wants a better country for her children. There were no policy demands in her speech. It was a simple explanation of her decision to vote for Donald Trump in 2024.

Matt Walsh and other social conservatives didn’t like the party's decision to platform an atheist, pro-abortion influencer who used to lead “slut walks” in Los Angeles. What probably made her appearance even more concerning is that it comes at a point when the GOP has decided to soften its language and policy ideas around key social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

I understand the concern. Every political party wants to win elections, but much like the immigration debate, “importing” a wave of new voters will eventually mean being responsive to their policy demands. And if Amber Rose’s past statements and the 50% sale on her OnlyFans page after her RNC speech are any indicator, what she demands from the party will be far different than what social conservatives want to see.

The New York Times article about the 2024 platform made it clear that any changes to Republican policy priorities will ultimately be based on Donald Trump’s vision for the party, however, not the whims of celebrities. Eric Trump told one journalist that the new platform reflects who his father has always been as well as what his wife, Lara, the current cochairman of the Republican National Committee, believes.

This may feel like betrayal to Trump’s base, but in the words of the poet Maya Angelou: "When people tell you who they are, believe them." Social conservatives are upset that the former president is being who he’s always been — an instinctual political operator, not a rigid ideologue. While Trump’s strongest support has been among white evangelicals, his willingness to engage on the issues conservative Christians care about most has always been based on political pragmatism more than theological conviction.

Social conservatives are like a woman who gets into a relationship with a man who tells her from the outset that he doesn’t want anything serious. She takes his willingness to go on dates, have sex, cook her breakfast in the morning, and take trips together as an indication that he’s ready to settle down, only to be disappointed when he leaves for a new pasture. She says, “But you did all these things that men do in relationships,” to which he replies, “But I told you I wasn’t interested in anything serious.”

Trump has always been to the left of his Christian supporters — and some fellow Republicans — on social issues. He hosted a Log Cabin Republican event at Mar-a-Lago in December 2022 that celebrated the misnamed Respect for Marriage Act. That law, signed by President Biden and supported by 39 House Republicans and 12 GOP senators, codified a definition of marriage that is out of step with the majority of Trump's evangelical base. Here is how Politico characterized the festivities:

But the main attraction, obviously, was Trump. He received a standing ovation after delivering an enthusiastic affirmation of gay rights not often heard in the GOP.

“We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” the former president and 2024 candidate said. “With the help of many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides, the strides you’ve made here is incredible.”

He also had trouble answering Megyn Kelly when she asked whether a man could become a woman. He even criticized Florida’s six-week abortion ban as a “terrible mistake” in 2023.

This is not a criticism of the former president. No one should be surprised that a lifelong Democrat-turned-Republican standard-bearer from New York City is not in lockstep with Bible Belt politics. It is an observation about the future of the Republican Party.

What a party allows is different than what it promotes. As things stand today, Republicans are part of the party that allows people to affirm the sex binary, the sanctity of life, and the biblical definition of marriage. I can’t say for sure how long that will last, but I do know that no Democrat in Congress today could do the same at his party’s convention in Chicago next month.

Political parties reflect both the people who run them as well as the people who vote for them. If the new Republican Party takes similar positions on LGBT issues and abortion in 10 years as Democrats do today, then Christian engagement in politics will look very different in the future.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, recently said social conservatives will have a “seat at the table” if he is around. That sounds reassuring, but he didn’t specify where that table would be located. A table in the boardroom means influencing the decisions being made, but one in the dining room means accepting whatever is already on the menu.