MILWAUKEE \u2014 In the heat of the 2024 Republican primary, Nikki Haley said Donald Trump was \u201cunhinged.\u201d She said America couldn\u2019t stand \u201cfour years of chaos, vendettas and drama.\u201d She mocked his \u201ctemper tantrums\u201d and questioned his mental fitness, seizing on a flub in which Trump repeatedly called Nancy Pelosi by Haley\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
But months after her own campaign ended, the former governor of South Carolina took to the stage at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night and called for party unity, specifically addressing voters who are still skeptical of Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy message to them is simple: You don\u2019t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him,\u201d she said. \u201cWe agree on keeping America strong. We agree on keeping America safe. And we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they\u2019re putting our freedoms in danger. I\u2019m here tonight because we have a country to save and a unified Republican Party is essential for saving her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The late addition of Haley to the convention schedule and the focus on party unity come as Republicans are trying to rally around Trump, capitalizing on a brutal stretch of headlines where Democrats\u2019 concerns over President Biden\u2019s mental fitness have dominated news coverage. That call for unity was put into even clearer focus after the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Haley said Tuesday evening that Trump had asked her to speak to the convention \u201cin the name of unity\u201d and that she was \u201chappy\u201d to accept.<\/p>\n
Trump watched Haley intently from his box. He stood up and clapped when Haley reiterated that Trump has her \u201cstrong endorsement, period.\u201d He smiled when she declared: \u201cFor the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haley was the first major rival to officially challenge Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination and drew support from skeptical Republicans and \u201cnever Trump\u201d voters in early nominating states. When she bowed out of the presidential race in March after losing all but two nominating contests, Haley signaled that she was taking a step back from politics. But she said she would \u201cnot stop using my voice for the things I believe in.\u201d At that time, she did not endorse Trump, but called on him to earn the backing of the legions of GOP and independent voters who wanted to see her as the nominee.<\/p>\n
Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita downplayed divisions within the party at a Georgetown Institute of Politics event Monday, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s such a load of crap.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said most Haley voters were Democratic-leaning independents, and claimed that the majority of her support came from unaffiliated voters in open primary states. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a problem with Republican voters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who endorsed Haley\u2019s primary bid, said her criticism of Trump is \u201cin the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitics is a blood sport. We\u2019re on the team now and in light of what happened, especially, we\u2019ve got to get this man elected so security can be brought back to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Haley took the stage, a convention volunteer instructed delegates in the Florida seats at the front of the floor to cheer when she endorsed Trump. They misunderstood, and immediately started cheering his name \u2014 before being told to hold off until she voiced her support.<\/p>\n
Haley was mostly greeted with applause, though loud boos broke through from some sections of the arena. In the front row, a supporter shouted \u201cyay Nikki, we love you,\u201d and some could be heard shouting \u201cthank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she said Trump had her complete support, the crowd began chanting his name. Kellie Randle, a Haley supporter from Tennessee, said the unity-focused speech was \u201cexactly what we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a unifier, we need to come together. Trump was not my first choice, but I\u2019m so happy to see every single one of them now come together and stand behind,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re making me change my vote now to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a roundtable with reporters hosted by Bloomberg News on Tuesday afternoon, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley wouldn\u2019t clarify the timeline of when Haley was extended an invitation to speak, but simply said he was very happy she was going to. Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair and Trump\u2019s daughter-in-law, said it was up to the RNC and the campaign to reach out to voters who backed Haley but are hesitant to support Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump is never going to change who he is,\u201d Lara Trump said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that some people love about him and some people don\u2019t love about him and I understand that. \u2026 But I think it\u2019s up to us as a campaign and as the RNC to reach out to some of those voters and say, \u2018Hey, listen, at the end of the day, you don\u2019t have to love the way he says everything. But look at how this affects your life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Some, however, are skeptical that the unity message will resonate with many of Haley\u2019s supporters, especially those who voted for her after she dropped out.<\/p>\n
Craig Snyder, who runs the Haley Voters for Biden super PAC, observed that Haley has been moving toward reconciling with Trump, but he did not think that would be a \u201cdecisive factor\u201d in what her voters will do in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think that the people that voted for Haley \u2026 particularly those in the later primaries, including my own state of Pennsylvania, were really sending a pretty strong message that they consider themselves to be Republicans but not Trump Republicans,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that words about unity go nearly far enough to sort of win those people back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haley was the only woman in the 2024 Republican presidential race and was the last rival standing against Trump before he clinched the GOP nomination. Campaigning on her foreign policy experience and traditional conservative beliefs while making the case that it was time for a new generation of leaders to helm the GOP, she carefully calibrated her criticism of Trump throughout the race. Initially, she tried to avoid alienating his fervent supporters. But ultimately, she argued that the nation needed a younger, more reliable and less self-absorbed commander in chief and cast herself as a formidable alternative.<\/p>\n
Haley \u2014 who was a little-known figure when she first ran for governor in 2010 and relished defeating the \u201cold boys\u201d network in her state \u2014 wore a T-shirt on the campaign trail that said, \u201cUnderestimate me. That\u2019ll be fun.\u201d She focused many of her attacks on Vice President Harris, predicting that Biden would not be the nominee long before the Democratic panic over his debate performance and conversations about him stepping aside became mainstream in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Trump was also punishing in his criticisms of Haley during the heat of their primary rivalry, frequently calling her \u201cbirdbrain\u201d and telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that she was \u201coverly ambitious.\u201d He later warned that anyone who contributed to her campaign \u201cwill be permanently banned from the MAGA [Make America Great Again] camp.\u201d And in early May, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that Haley \u201cwas not under consideration for the V.P. slot\u201d but that he wished her well. <\/p>\n
But he softened his tone later that month after Haley said she would vote for him in November, while she maintained that he \u201chas not been perfect\u201d on his policies.<\/p>\n
In an interview with News 12 New York in late May, Trump called Haley a \u201cvery capable person\u201d and said she would be \u201con our team in some form, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haley had announced she would be voting for Trump in her first public appearance after ending her campaign in May, during a conversation in May at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank where she was named the organization\u2019s Walter P. Stern chair.<\/p>\n
She did not mention Trump beyond her intention to vote for him, focusing her remarks on repeatedly attacking Biden\u2019s positions on foreign policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be voting for Trump. Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,\u201d she said at the think tank, before reiterating that Trump needed to reach out to her voters: \u201cTrump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they\u2019re just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi who supported Haley in the primary and is now supporting Trump, said that Trump is rising to the moment of unifying the party, particularly after the assassination attempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what the American people want. They want somebody that wants to unify them,\u201d Barbour said. \u201cIt is a great development not only politically but just for the good of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haley won Vermont, and nine of the state\u2019s delegates. But on the convention floor Monday evening, delegate Deb Billado, the state\u2019s former GOP chair, said the delegation was \u201c100 percent Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she was surprised her state went for Haley, but noted that \u201cwe fixed that,\u201d in reference to the delegate slate casting all its voters for Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019d like to be inclusive, and have her as part of the party, and she is,\u201d Billado added. \u201cBut we were always for Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Hampshire state Sen. Bill Gannon, who endorsed Haley and was one of the delegates assigned to vote for her until she released them, is now backing Trump. Haley placed second in the state, where she also earned the endorsement of Gov. Chris Sununu (R) and won nine delegates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re Republicans. She\u2019s not trying to bind us to just her; she wants the party to do well,\u201d Gannon said in an interview on the convention floor. He noted that the Trump delegates within the New Hampshire delegation had \u201cmade us feel very warm and welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not someone who is going to disappear, because the people like her; there\u2019s a place for her,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not the end for Nikki Haley. It\u2019s just the beginning. She\u2019s very young, the party is growing, going through growth spurts, and I think there will be a place for her in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
MILWAUKEE \u2014 In the heat of the 2024 Republican primary, Nikki Haley said Donald Trump was \u201cunhinged.\u201d She said America couldn\u2019t stand \u201cfour years of chaos, vendettas and drama.\u201d She mocked his \u201ctemper tantrums\u201d and questioned his mental fitness, seizing on a flub in which Trump repeatedly called Nancy Pelosi by Haley\u2019s name. But months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}