Nikki Haley calls for unity, not just among Republicans but ‘as one country’

Former U.N. Ambassador and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Delegates, politicians, and the Republican faithful are in Milwaukee for the annual convention, concluding with former President Donald Trump accepting his party's presidential nomination. The RNC takes place from July 15-18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley fully endorsed President Donald Trump in a speech designed to show unity among Republicans and explain why Americans who don’t always agree with him — like her — should support him too.

“I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear: Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period!” she said to start her 11-minute speech Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  

“For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump!” she said as people in the crowd got on their feet in applause, including the former president.

However, she continued, “We should acknowledge that there are Americans who don’t agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time. I happen to know some of them,” she said with a grin, “and I want to speak to them tonight.

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him,” she continued. “Take it from me: I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more often than we disagree.”

Haley, who worked for Trump as his first ambassador to the United Nations, had avoided formally endorsing the former president for months after dropping out of the GOP presidential primary.

Trump’s last challenger, Haley wished him well as she exited the race following Super Tuesday in early March. But she specifically declined to endorse him, saying he needed to earn the votes of her supporters. 

On Tuesday night, Haley said the stakes are too high not to support him.

“I’m here tonight because we have a country to save, and a unified Republican Party is essential to saving her,” she said to chants of “U-S-A!”

She reminded the audience of a line she repeated throughout the primary — that a vote for President Joe Biden would be a vote for Kamala Harris, the vice president, to replace him as commander in chief. A year ago, her suggestion was dismissed during a TV interview. 

“After seeing the debate, everyone knows it’s true,” she said, referring to Biden’s performance during the presidential debate with Trump last month.

With either one of them in the Oval Office, Haley said, America would be “badly worse off.” 

Haley said she and Trump agree on keeping America safe and strong, comparing Biden and Trump on foreign policy and border security.

She accused Biden of sending “every possible sign of weakness” on the world stage. She blamed him for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and for Iran being able to fund Hamas in its attack on Israel last October, igniting a war that continues.

“A strong president doesn’t start wars. A strong president prevents wars,” she said, noting a lack of invasions during Trump’s presidency.

As for the Middle East, “between Israel and Hamas, Donald Trump is clear on who is our friend and who is our enemy,” she said.

“Even now, when Hamas is still holding Americans hostage, Biden is pressuring Israel instead of the terrorists,” she said to boos from the audience.

Haley was initially not even invited to attend the RNC. But she told her 97 delegates last week to support the former president. On Sunday, though, she was announced as a speaker.

The invitation followed the shooting of Trump Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania, when a would-be assassin’s bullet hit the former president’s right ear just as he turned his head. One rally attendee was killed and at least two other people were injured before authorities killed the shooter, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

She spoke during the second night of the convention, when the theme was “make America safe again.”

Following Haley on stage was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another former Trump rival whose withdrawal from the race in late January created a two-way contest between Haley and her former boss. Unlike Haley, DeSantis endorsed Trump as he exited the race.

Even after losing her home state of South Carolina by 20 percentage points, Haley refused for weeks to bow to increasing pressure to withdraw, saying voters deserved a choice.

Haley began Tuesday’s speech by saying Trump asked her to speak at the RNC “in the name of unity.”

The South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants concluded by saying the party not only needs to unify behind Trump, but it also needs to expand and welcome people with different backgrounds and experiences.

“Our foreign enemies win when they see Americans hate each other,” Haley said. “They see that today, whether it’s on college campuses or in a field in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Let us come together as a people, as one country strong and proud,” she concluded. “Let’s show the world that even on our worst day, we’re blessed to live in America.”

Haley’s message of unity was a pivot from an often-harsh primary.

Before she dropped out in early March, Haley questioned the mental competency of both Biden and Trump and called the former president a chicken for refusing to debate her. Trump called her “birdbrain” and questioned the whereabouts of her husband, who was deployed in Africa with the South Carolina National Guard at the time.

The Biden-Harris campaign used Haley’s own words to make the case against Trump and invite her voters to back Biden.

“Ambassador Haley said it best herself: Someone who doesn’t respect our military, doesn’t know right from wrong, and ‘surrounds himself in chaos’ can’t be president,” Austin Weatherford, the campaign’s 2024 national Republican engagement director, said in a statement Tuesday night.

“That’s why millions of Republicans cast their votes in protest of Donald Trump and his attacks on our institutions, our nation’s allies, and civility,” Weatherford said of primary voters. “Those millions of voters across the country deserve a president who shares their commitment to bipartisanship, to America’s standing on the global stage, and who respects our nation’s brave men and women in uniform. There’s a home for every single one of these voters in the coalition President Biden is building of patriotic Americans who will always put country over party.”

While Haley fell far short of being the GOP nominee, she made history as the first woman to win a GOP presidential primary. She ultimately won two contests: Washington, D.C., and Vermont.

Haley spent three terms in the state Legislature before voters elected her South Carolina’s first minority and first female governor in 2010. She was halfway through her second term as governor when Trump nominated her to be ambassador for the UN. She held that role until 2018, when she resigned.

A month after leaving the presidential contest, Haley joined the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. In a speech for the Institute in May, Haley said she would be voting for Trump in November but stopped short of wholeheartedly supporting him. 

The next day, Trump told a reporter he appreciated what she said, adding she’d be “on our team in some form.”

It’s not the first time Haley has been critical of Trump before backing him.

In the runup to the 2016 election, Haley initially backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, then — after he dropped out — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, while criticizing Trump as irresponsible and everything governors don’t want in a president. As Trump wrapped up the nomination, however, Haley endorsed him.

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