Dedicated to the “To the Forgotten Men and Women of America,” the Republican Party’s 2024 platform reads like the transcript of a Trump rally speech.

The Republican National Committee’s Platform Committee adopted former President Donald Trump’s platform, a document that leans into Trump’s preferred “America First” stances and steers away from traditional GOP social issues.

The platform starts with 20 promises, largely pulling from the tag lines of the former president, including “STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION” and the simplistic “END INFLATION.” Trump’s campaign sought to pare down the party platform.

More recently, Trump has made sure to try to distance himself from the controversial (and lengthy) Project 2025 policy document put together by some of his allies.

Notably, the promises don’t mention anything about abortion, as Trump attempts to de-emphasize the issue and appeal to swing voters. In the entire platform, the word appears just once, in a statement about the party’s dedication to protecting “the issue of life.” It reads: “We will oppose Late Term Abortion.”

After appointing the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion, he’s said the issue should now be up to states.

Other social issues appear more frequently, including promises related to limiting federal funding for schools teaching so-called Critical Race Theory and keeping “men out of women’s sports.”

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.
July 8, 2024
Fellow Democrats,
Now that you have returned from the July 4th recess, I want you to know that despite all the
speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running
this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.
I have had extensive conversations with the leadership of the party, elected officials, rank and
file members, and most importantly, Democratic voters over these past 10 days or so. I have
heard the concerns that people have – their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake
in this election. I am not blind to them. Believe me, I know better than anyone the responsibility
and the burden the nominee of our party carries. I carried it in 2020 when the fate of our nation
was at stake. I also know these concerns come from a place of real respect for my lifetime of
public service and my record as President, and I have been moved by the expressions of affection
for me from so many who have known me well and supported me over the course of my public
life. I’ve been grateful for the rock-solid, steadfast support from so many elected Democrats in
Congress and all across the country and taken great strength from the resolve and determination
I’ve seen from so many voters and grassroots supporters even in the hardest of weeks.
I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did
not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.
We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I
received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have
nearly 3,900 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin.
This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me.
One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for
being too old and was soundly defeated. The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They
have chosen me to be the nominee of the party.
Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say?
I decline to do that. I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic
Party have placed in me to run this year. It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the
pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well
intentioned. The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee of the Democratic Party.
How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party? I cannot do that.
I will not do that.
I have no doubt that I – and we – can and will beat Donald Trump. We have an historic record
of success to run on. From creating over 15 million jobs (including 200,000 just last month),
reaching historic lows on unemployment, to revitalizing American manufacturing with 800,000
jobs, to protecting and expanding affordable health care, to rebuilding America’s roads, bridges,
highways, ports and airports, and water systems, to beating Big Pharma and lowering the cost of
prescription drugs, including $35 a month insulin for seniors, to providing student debt relief
for nearly 5 million Americans to an historic investment in combatting climate change.
More importantly, we have an economic vision to run on that soundly beats Trump and the
MAGA Republicans. They are siding with the wealthy and the big corporations and we are siding
with the working people of America. It wasn’t an isolated moment for Trump to stand at Mar-A-
Lago and tell the oil industry they should give him $1 billion and he will do whatever they want.

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At least 33 people were killed and more than 140 injured as Russian missiles on Monday struck cities across Ukraine including Kyiv, where the country’s main children’s cancer hospital was hit.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said two adults had been confirmed killed by the direct hit on the Okhmatdyt hospital. Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers are still working to rescue patients and staff believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of a destroyed department.

Rescue operations were also under way at two Kyiv apartment buildings and a medical clinic in the east of the city. The capital was the main target of today’s attacks, with 22 killed and 82 injured.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, one of the most advanced weapons in the Kremlin’s arsenal and among the most difficult for air defence systems to intercept.

Monday’s barrage comes as Nato leaders, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, prepare to gather for a summit in Washington this week, at which strengthening the alliance’s position towards Russia and bolstering Ukraine’s defences are expected to top the agenda.

“Russia cannot help but know where its missiles are flying, and must fully answer for all its crimes: against people, against children, against humanity in general,” said Zelenskyy, who arrived in Warsaw on Monday morning.

The UN Security Council said it had convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the attack.

Russian missiles also caused multiple casualties in Ukraine’s southern cities of Dnipro, where one person was reported killed, Kropyvnytskyi and the industrial city of Kryviy Rih,

Metinvest, Ukraine’s biggest mining company, said 10 employees were killed and 30 injured in a strike on an administrative building at a coal processing plant in Kryvyi Rih.

At least three people were killed in the eastern city of Pokrovsk, local authorities reported.

Alla, a nurse at the Kyiv children’s hospital who declined to give her surname, said the toxicology ward had been destroyed.

“Something hit nearby and then it hit us. After that it was chaos and I don’t remember everything,” said Alla, who works in the main building.

The blast ripped off the facade of the main hospital building and its windows. Glass and debris were still falling from the hospital structures more than two hours after the attack.

An image posted by Ukraine’s presidential office showed a child with a head injury. Hospital staff in dusty scrubs stood around in shock, while some were being treated for injuries.

Russia’s defence ministry released a statement implying that a Ukrainian air defence missile caused the strike on the children’s hospital.

The ministry also said it had hit a number of defence manufacturing sites and air bases in response to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy and industrial infrastructure.

Ukraine’s accusations that Russia had deliberately targeted civilian facilities were “absolutely not accurate”, it said. It claimed that footage of the strike on Kyiv “unambiguously confirmed” that a Ukrainian missile had caused the destruction, without mentioning the children’s hospital.

But videos of the attack posted to X appeared to show a missile directly striking the hospital.

In total, seven Kyiv districts suffered either damage from debris or direct hits in Monday’s strikes, according to Klitschko’s office. Ukraine’s air defence chiefs said 38 missiles were used in the attacks, 30 of which were intercepted.

Zelenskyy said the hospital was “one of the most important children’s hospitals not only in Ukraine but also in Europe”.

The president called for further western support to bolster Ukraine’s defences and for Kyiv’s allies to hold Moscow to account for its attacks.

“It is very important that the world does not remain silent about this now, and that everyone sees what Russia is and what it is doing,” he said from Warsaw, where he was due to meet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The two leaders are expected to sign a security pact.

Nato leaders are expected to make a one-year, €40bn pledge of support for Ukraine this week as political upheaval among the alliance’s larger members limits their capacity to commit more long-term resources.

Additional reporting by Raphael Minder in Warsaw