The cult of Trump has arrived, complete with prayer book in hand. It’s a 16-page platform document titled, “2024 GOP Platform, Make America Great Again!” It was issued shortly before the start of the recent Republican National Convention, which I attended in Milwaukee. Many of the Republican delegates I spoke to on the convention floor, including two from the Central Coast, seemed convinced that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life is a part of his destiny, and surviving it is only proof that it was divine foresight. Jack Beatty, a senior editor at The Atlantic and an NPR pundit, said the Republican Party has completely succumbed to “the cult of Trump.” This platform, much of it strangely in capital letters, is likely the party’s catechism.

What does the cult of Trump and his party’s platform mean not only to Santa Cruz’s immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, but also for workers, renters and even electric car drivers? As troubling, and at times absurd this platform reads, we ignore it at our own peril.

What is contained in this document is not pretty. Mass deportations, guaranteed. Trans rights, denied. A “Great Iron Dome” missile defense shield, mandated. This doctrine doubles down on Trump’s most sanctimonious campaign speeches. It contains new rights to protect oil drilling and bitcoin mining. There’s even a call to close the Department of Education and terminate “the Socialist Green New Deal.” Perhaps the most mean-spirited sections are on immigration, gender and energy.

In the “PREAMBLE” we learn that “the Greatest Nation in the History of the World” is actually now “a Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE.” To make our country better, “we must deport the millions of illegal aliens who Joe Biden has deliberately encouraged to invade our Country.”

Republican “promise” No. 1 is to “SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION,” and No. 2 is “CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY.” A later chapter goes into greater detail on Trump’s intentions to strengthen ICE, bring back the travel ban, end all federal support for sanctuary cities like Santa Cruz, and move “thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to our own Southern Border.” Trumpian logic has it that “Republicans will use existing Federal Law to keep foreign Christian-hating Communists, Marxists, and Socialists out of America.”

Later in the document a heading reads, “Republicans Will End Left-wing Gender Insanity.” This is explained in one long sentence, which includes keeping men out of women’s sports, banning taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, “stopping tax-payer-funded schools from promoting gender transition” and also reversing “Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations.”

Another “promise” is to “CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS.” The Trump platform seeks to “save the American auto industry” by both “canceling Biden’s Electric Vehicle and other Mandates, and preventing the importation of Chinese vehicles.”

The military too, is in for a BIG modernization. “Republicans will ensure our Military is the most modern, lethal, and powerful Force in the world … including an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield … and get woke Left-wing Democrats fired as soon as possible.” Trump may have plans to withdraw support from Ukraine, but do not expect any peace dividend soon.

Perhaps the most startling development in the party of Trump, a theme ripped from the playbook of Democrats, and Democratic Socialists alike, is its new friend, “American Workers.” The document says, “our politicians sold our jobs and livelihoods to the highest bidders overseas with unfair Trade Deals and a blind faith in the siren song of globalism.” Teamsters’ president, Sean O’Brien, even spoke at the convention, a first. One of those top 20 promises is that Trump will “FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE.” This would likely be another first for Republicans.

The party of Trump has already joined a worldwide creep toward fascism with rightist friends like Victor Orban in Hungary, Giorgia Meloni of Italy, and of course, Russia’s Vladimir Putin. If elected, Trump will ebb farther rightward given the wording of “Project 2025” issued by the Heritage Foundation.

Few voices of protest rose outside the convention last week. Protesting and marching turned bleak for progressives. The two marches that did occur were so remote from the convention proceedings, the police presence so muscular, that very few turned out. The party of Trump is growing. I wonder, is this what it felt like in Weimar Germany in 1932?

Chris Krohn is a writer and a former Santa Cruz mayor and city councilmember.