Haley’s charisma has its limits, but she does have a Southern smiling charm that neither Vance nor DeSantis could match.
Haley is framing the pro-Ukraine argument in a way that is consistent with Donald Trump’s case — that when he was president, Putin didn’t dare to invade.
“For those who have some doubts about” Trump, Haley added, endorsing Trump’s instincts on foreign policy. For example, “When Trump was president, Putin did nothing. No invasions, no wars. That wasn’t an accident. Putin didn’t attack Ukraine because he knew Trump was tough.”
“We should acknowledge that there are some Americans won don’t agree with Donald Trump 100 percent of the time,” Nikki Haley noted. “You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent 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.”
Haley, who made age an issue in her campaign — both Trump’s and Biden’s — is making the most explicit argument against Biden’s mental decline.
“Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.” – Nikki Haley
This is the unity pitch Trump actually will benefit from. The media will be especially incandescent with rage about it.
Haley doesn’t leave the crowd in suspense at all, says at the outset, “Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period.”
Trump claps as Haley says Trump has her endorsement – “period.”
Nikki Haley gets a vocal but mixed reception – recall that she got 97 delegates, so they are all in the hall and this is their moment. Stresses that Trump asked her to speak, and in the name of “unity.”
“We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again,” Trump says in pre-taped message broadcast again today to attendees and delegates in the hall. “Keep your eyes open because these people want to cheat, and the do cheat and, frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”