It is said that although tonight’s official RNC ‘24 theme is “Make America Safe Once Again”, it subtheme is “Unity”. However, some in the media are lamenting this unity.
Watch as CBS’s Senior Elections Correspondent Robert Costa laments the fact that Republicans who opposed Trump in 2024 are insufficiently obstinate, and too quick to endorse their onetime rival:
ROBERT COSTA: Trump critics say it’s opposition to President Biden that is bringing Republicans together.
Why isn't the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party holding a bit more firm and resisting the temptation to endorse?
ASA HUTCHINSON: Well, the answer is, because we saw Joe Biden in the alternative in the debate, and he showed weakness. And no one wants a weak president.
Costa seems to pine for the theatrics of a contested convention wherein dueling factions duke it out on the open floor before one side acquiesces to the other. But this isn’t that scenario. No matter how badly Costa wishes it were so.
Some choose to unite in support of President Trump, and others will unite in opposition to President Biden. Nikki Haley’s unity appears to be predicated on the latter, a concession to the reality on the ground- Costa’s pining for continued obstinance notwithstanding.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening news on Tuesday, July 16th, 2024:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Back here in Milwaukee, the energy is high, the music loud on this night 2 of the Republican National Convention. The theme tonight is, “Make America Safe Once Again”. CBS's Robert Costa reports the night's biggest highlight could be the return of Nikki Haley.
ROBERT COSTA: Day 2 of the Republican National Convention began with a walk-through by the upbeat vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance ahead of the Ohio senator's acceptance speech. But onetime Trump rival Nikki Haley is getting ready to deliver a high-profile speech making unity, however uneasy it might be, the unofficial theme of Day 2. Even as Republicans rally around Trump in the wake of last weekend’s assassination attempt, tensions nonetheless remain from the primary where Haley challenged Trump and hit him hard.
NIKKI HALEY: Chaos follows him. You know I’m right. Chaos follows him.
All those things that he is saying is a lie.
He’s not what he has in 2016. He has declined, that's a fact.
COSTA: Sources say Haley’s invite came only in recent days as Trump and his advisors try to stitch together the party. Delegates her seemed ready to invite her into the fold.
DELEGATE: The party wants her to speak and she’s willing to speak, and President Trump has certainly invited her, then that's fine with me.
DELEGATE 2: I think she ‘s going to bring the women vote.
DELEGATE 3: I think what you're seeing here is they unite at the end of the day.
COSTA: Trump critics say it’s opposition to President Biden that is bringing Republicans together.
Why isn't the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party holding a bit more firm and resisting the temptation to endorse?
ASA HUTCHINSON: Well, the answer is, because we saw Joe Biden in the alternative in the debate, and he showed weakness. And no one wants a weak president.
COSTA: All this comes as Trump is also getting an enormous fundraising boost, including tens of millions reportedly pledged by billionaire Elon Musk, and as Trump works to win over independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who he spoke with by phone about the shooting.
DONALD TRUMP: It felt like a giant- like the world's largest mosquito, and it was, it was a bullet going around. You know, what did they call it, an AR-15 or something? That was a big gun. Those are pretty, pretty tough guns, right?
COSTA: Former Ambassador Haley is not the only story here tonight. There will also be a big spotlight on Republican Senate candidates across the country, as well as on the issues of crime and immigration. Norah.
O’DONNELL: Robert Costa, thank you very much.
