It Was Losers Night at the RNC

Nikki Haley onstage during the second night of the Republican National Convention. Photo: Mark Peterson

In Milwaukee, Tuesday night was losers night.

The prime-time lineup for the second day of the Republican National Convention was full of speeches from various politicians who once ran against Donald Trump only to come to the Fiserv Forum to glorify him. Sitting in the VIP box chatting with newly minted vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance, he watched former adversary after former adversary go onstage and give praise. Vance will do the same when he speaks on Wednesday, a one-time critic who went so far as to ask in 2016 if Trump might be “America’s Hitler.”

The most notable speech came from Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who finished second to Trump in this year’s primaries. As recently as four months ago, she called him “diminished” and “unhinged.” It wasn’t until a few days ago that she was even invited to speak to the convention in the name of unity, following Saturday’s assassination attempt against Trump. Given her persistent attacks on Trump’s fitness for office, there was some trepidation about how Haley would be received in a room crowded with the MAGA faithful. Delegates were warned not to boo her.

Instead, she was welcomed with loud cheers just for walking onstage, where she began by offering Trump her “strong endorsement.” After that, the cheers died down and the room became indifferent to just about everything else she said. When she conceded to the crowd that not everyone agrees with Trump 100 percent of the time, a gruff voice barked out on the floor, “That’s their problem.” Through it all, CNN played her speech on a split screen, with Trump in the corner of the screen, watching her every word.

Next up was Ron DeSantis, who dropped out of the 2024 primary before Haley did, following a second place finish in Iowa. As if he were still running for president, the Florida governor gave a warmed-over version of his stump speech, complete with allusions to the threat of “the woke mind virus” as he praised Trump, who had previously mocked him as “DeSanctimonious.”

“Donald Trump has been demonized, he’s been sued, he’s been prosecuted — and he nearly lost his life,” he said. “We cannot let him down, and we cannot let America down.”

Marco Rubio, who ran against Trump in 2016 calling him a “con man” and even mocking his “small hands,” also spoke. A few days earlier, he was in contention to be in the VIP box with Trump as his running mate, but lost that campaign to Vance, who speaks MAGA fluently. After eulogizing Corey Comperatore, who was fatally shot at the Trump rally on Saturday, Rubio praised the Trump movement. “Anyone who is offended about putting America First has forgotten who America is and what America needs,” he said.

It was a far cry from the divisive convention in 2016 that culminated when Ted Cruz ended his convention speech by urging attendees to “vote their conscience” as Trump’s fans jeered the Texas senator, who called their nominee a “sniveling coward” and “utterly amoral.” Eight years later, Cruz ended his speech with Trump’s signature line “make America Great Again” as he offered up a red-meat harangue on the dangers of illegal immigration to the crowd.

A convention might be full of the party faithful, but there is a bigger crowd beyond the arena that a speaker needs to carefully reach. “The biggest thing you have to remember is the audience at home,” said Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin who ran for president in 2012. “Don’t get caught up in the moment. Don’t yell.”

Ben Carson, who was the only candidate ever to surpass Trump in national polls during the 2016 primary before joining his administration, offered prayer for the welfare of the former president after the assassination attempt. He invoked scripture with a paranoid edge. “And then they tried to kill him and he is still alive,” Carson said, baselessly linking the attempt to the array of criminal and civil litigation Trump is facing.

The implicit message sent by all of these former candidates is that they might have some say in defining the party going forward. “The future of the Republican Party is not cast in stone. Donald Trump is making it somewhat in his image right now, but it’s not going to stay the same,” said Rick Santorum, who ran in 2012 but lost to Mitt Romney. “I wanted to deliver a particular message that we wanted to be a blue-collar party. I felt really excited about at least planting a flag and it was nice to see it furl.” The only difficulty is that, as their own turns show, there is no future for a Republican who criticized Trump unless they praise him.