Nikki Haley, in Speech at GOP Convention After the Bitter Primaries, Makes Party Unity Her Cause

MILWAUKEE — Republican Party unity will be the new goal of Nikki Haley, President Trump’s former envoy at the United Nations and challenger in the Republican primary, she told the party convention here in a full-throated endorsement Tuesday evening.President Trump watched from the red VIP box above the convention floor as Ms. Haley called for the party to heal the divide between her supporters and Trump’s powerful MAGA faction. This comes just six months after a bruising primary in which she called Trump “unhinged” and “not qualified.”“President Trump asked me to speak to this convention in the name of unity,” Ms. Haley told a packed convention floor. “I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear, Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period.” Ms. Haley’s speech was targeted to reach her base of moderates and conservatives of a pre-2016 GOP.“We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don’t agree with Donald Trump 100 percent of the time, I happen to know some of them,” Ms. Haley said to laughs. “My message to them is simple: you don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him.”That Ms. Haley was scheduled to speak at the convention came as a reversal. Just last week her representative told the AP that she wasn’t invited. A Trump campaign insider tells the Sun that Trump extended an invitation to the former South Carolina governor before the attempted assassination of the presumed GOP nominee on Saturday in Pennsylvania.The failed assassination attempt of Trump, though, is weighing heavily over the convention, prompting politicians and delegates to call for a lowering of the temperature and a focus on unity. Ms. Haley was well received by the crowd.“I thought Nikki Haley’s speech was very unifying, very humbling, very inclusive, and very exciting,” the assistant treasurer of the Republican Party of Florida, James Campo, tells the Sun.“I’m not a Nikki Haley supporter but I’m glad she’s here because it shows what Donald Trump can do for our party,” an Iowa delegate, Merle Miller, tells the Sun. “He’s bringing everybody into the tent.”“The party is unified. We are all strongly in support of Donald Trump,” a New Hampshire delegate, Chris Maidment, tells the Sun.After hearing the same “unity” talking point over and over, though, it started to feel rehearsed to some attendees. One Oklahoma delegate, Brian Hobbs, tells the Sun there is consternation among delegates about the liberalizing of the party’s platform on abortion and gay marriage with no debate from delegates.“Some of the delegates are not too pleased,” Mr. Hobbs says. “There is a lot of transition that I think a lot of states didn’t know was going to happen until they got here.”Others, though, tell the Sun the language changes and streamlining of the platform are the Trump campaign’s prerogative if they think it will help them win. Ms. Haley also advocated for a big tent GOP in which her base and MAGA acolytes like Trump’s newly nominated vice-presidential pick, Senator Vance, can coexist. “We must not only be a unified party, we must also expand our party. we are so much better when we are bigger,” she said.This push to expand the GOP base is a large part of the convention so far. On Monday night, a handful of Black Republicans made their pitch to African Americans, a Teamster chief made his pitch to working class voters, and influencer Amber Rose made hers to young people. Tuesday’s program included a rap video featuring Amber Rose and another facial-tattoo-sporting artist.“I think it’s great that they support Trump,” a Georgia delegate, Brittany Bennett, tells the Sun. “I think that it shows that Republicans are the party of inclusion and there’s room for everyone in our tent.”

Nikki Haley, in Speech at GOP Convention After the Bitter Primaries, Makes Party Unity Her Cause

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