'There's no fighting': RNC delegates applaud Haley, DeSantis pivots to Trump
MILWAUKEE – Just a few months ago, they were making impassioned cases against former President Donald Trump.
But on Tuesday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the stage at the Republican National Convention to convince their voters to back Trump in November.
Haley — who came out to a mix of cheers and boos — said she came to speak "in the name of unity" and lauded Trump's record. DeSantis, too, praised Trump's first term and skewered President Joe Biden's "Weekend at Bernie's" presidency.
Despite the mixed welcome for Haley, delegates to the convention told Paste BN they appreciated the former GOP presidential candidates' clear bid to bring the party together.
Haley's speech was "a calming speech, which resonates a solid message of unity" and DeSantis' speech reflected what Republican voters want, said Gulrez "Gus" Khan, a delegate from Lubbock, Texas. "I think this platform is going to take us to the next level and, God willing, Trump will be our next president."
And he doesn't make much of those messages a few months ago trying to block Trump's path to the presidency: "When they were political competitors, it's always different. You've got to protect your platform."
DeSantis and Haley both challenged Trump in the GOP presidential primary, with DeSantis running along the same ideological lines as Trump and Haley appealing to centrist Republicans. DeSantis dropped out of the race in late January just before the New Hampshire primary, but Haley stayed in the race until March after being roundly defeated on Super Tuesday.
She spent much of her campaign warning her fellow Republicans against Trump and did not immediately endorse him after leaving the race. During her speech Tuesday, she gave him her "strong endorsement, period."
"Nikki Haley was very blunt and to the point, I think that's what we need," said Salleigh Grubbs, a delegate from Cobb County, Georgia. To her fellow attendees who booed her coming on stage, she said: "I think we're past the point of boos in this country. I think we have to get with the program and save it."
The two speeches highlighted the theme of unity speakers have highlighted in the convention following the attempted assassination of Trump. “There’s no fighting. You don’t need that anymore,” Kimo Sutton, a Texas delegate, told Paste BN.
On the campaign trail, Haley said many of the politicians that embrace Trump "privately dread him" but that she's "not afraid to say the hard truth out loud." Scott Crosbier, a delegate from Kentucky, told Paste BN he “truly believes” the pair’s full throated support of the former president who they once spurned, is authentic.“I think that’s the primary season for you,” Crosbier said of Haley and DeSantis’ previous criticisms of of Trump.
Haley’s speech expressing support for the former president was markedly different from her last endorsement, which was hardly enthusiastic.“We all felt that,” Sharon Lloyd, an Arkansas delegate, told Paste BN of Haley’s apathetic support of Trump earlier.Haley and DeSantis’ appearances at the convention could be seen as them setting the stage for a second shot at a presidential run in 2028. Or what Lloyd suggested, maybe a cabinet position.But she was skeptical: “I don’t know about that.”