dpa
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, once fierce rivals of former US president Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, used their speeches at the party’s national convention to reaffirm he now has their full backing.
"I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement,” Haley told the crowd at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday. Trump was officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate for November’s elections on Monday.
Haley, who was received with a mix of cheers and booing, dropped out of the race after being heavily beaten by Trump in the primaries, however she did not immediately endorse him.
Relations between Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, and Trump had been fraught with personal attacks, with Haley questioning whether the former president was mentally fit for running for office, while Trump targeted Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants, with racist comments.
While Haley and DeSantis, the governor of Florida who dropped out of the race following the Iowa primary in January, have since both publicly endorsed Trump, their support voiced at the national convention is seen as a signal of unity within the Republican Party.
"We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don’t agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time. I happen to know some of them, and I want to speak to them tonight,” Haley said.
"I’m here tonight because we have a country to save, and a unified Republican Party is essential for saving her.”
DeSantis told a cheering audience that it was time to "send Joe Biden back to his basement, and let’s send Donald Trump back to the White House.” Trump was watching on in person again on day two of the televised extravaganza, only three days after he was injured in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.