Former Republican presidential candidates, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, who challenged former President Donald Trump in the Republican Primary, spoke at the Republican National Convention on July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both Haley and DeSantis advocated for supporting Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J D Vance in the upcoming general elections in November.
Haley, who was a former Governor of South Carolina and once considered a bitter rival of President Trump, started her speech with, “President Trump asked me to speak to this convention in the name of unity. It was a gracious invitation, and I was happy to accept. I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period.”
As President Trump and his running mate Vance sat in the audience listening to her speech, Haley cautioned, “Our country is at a critical moment. We have a choice to make. For more than a year, I said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Kamala Harris,” while adding “After seeing the debate, everyone knows it’s true. If we have four more years of Biden, or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off. For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.”
Haley made a compelling argument to both her supporters and those who do not support Trump by stating, “My message to them is simple. You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 per cent of the time to vote for him. Take it from me. I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more often than we disagree.”
As a former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Haley who is experienced in foreign policy matters, emphasized that she knew President Trump as her commander-in-chief and had a firsthand view of his national security policies.
“When Barack Obama was President, Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea. With Joe Biden as President, Putin invaded all of Ukraine. But when Donald Trump was President, Putin did nothing,” Haley added. “No invasion, no wars. That was no accident. Putin didn’t attack Ukraine, because he knew Donald Trump was tough. A strong President doesn’t start wars a strong President prevents wars.”
She also compared President Biden and Trump regarding their policies in Afghanistan, the Middle-East, especially in Iran, and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Haley, while calling for unity among Republicans noted, “Now, to my fellow Republicans, we must not only be a unified party we must also expand our party. We are so much better when we are bigger. We are stronger when we welcome people into our party who have different backgrounds and experiences.”
“As a citizen, as a husband and as a father, I am alarmed that the current president of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office,” said Governor of Florida DeSantis. “We need a commander in chief who can lead 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Let’s make the 45th President of the United States [Trump] the 47th President of the United States.”
Another Presidential Candidate, Indian-origin Vivek Ramaswamy, energized the gathering by emphasizing, “If you want to seal the border, vote Trump; if you want to restore law and order in this country, vote Trump; if you want to reignite the economy in this country, vote Trump; if you want to revive national pride in this country, vote Trump; if you want to make America great again, vote Trump.”
Ramaswamy, who seldom criticized President Trump both during and after the primary, added that there was another crucial reason for urging everyone to vote for Trump, which he described the most important one. “It’s the one that media won’t talk about, but it’s the truth. Donald Trump is the President who will actually unite this country, not through empty words, but through action. Because you know what? Success is unifying. Excellence is unifying. That’s who we are as Americans. That’s who we’ve always been,” added Ramaswamy.
Other notable speakers such as Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, Florida Senator, Marco Rubio, and RNC co-chair and President’s Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump spoke on the second day of the Convention.
