WASHINGTON: Short of pawing the ground, going round and round, and rolling on the ground to play doggo, Republican principals till recently opposed to Donald Trump did everything to worm their way back into his good books at the party convention in Milwaukee, where the deification of the former president who survived an assassination attempt continued into the second day.
The ignominious scroll of turnarounds was led by former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley who had challenged Trump in the party primaries, saying he is too unstable and unhinged to be President. On Tuesday, Haley did an about turn, telling party faithful that Donald Trump “has my strong endorsement, period” and “the sake of our nation we have to go with Donald Trump.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, another Indian-American in the GOP line-up who beat Haley to line up behind Trump after also trying for the nomination, delivered another rousing endorsement of the candidate, as did Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, all of them going on bended knee to kiss the ring of the MAGA supremo. Among other insults, Trump had called Nikki Haley a “birdbrain,” called Ted Cruz’ wife ugly, and his campaign dubbed DeSantis “a desperate eunuch.”
Invoking his own background as the son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy said “Our message to every legal immigrant is this: you’re like my parents. You deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America. But our message to illegal immigrants is also this: we will return you to your country of origin, not because you’re all bad people, but because you broke the law.”
Rebuilding bridges with opponents with ingratiating speeches after inner-party knife fights is a typical feature of US politics (also on the Democratic side), but given Trump’s own trademark smackdown of rivals, Tuesday’s turnaround was quite breathtaking. Trump himself sat through the unctuous speeches, smiling benignly and occasionally applauding.
While some of the former rivals are seeking a place at the Trump high table, including cabinet positions, others are returning to the tent to position themselves for a White House run in 2028. But in comments to Axios, the former President’s son Donald Trump Jr indicated that despite their abject turnaround, Trump critics within the party — dubbed RINOs, Republicans In Name Only — would be sidelined.
“I don’t want to pick a single person for a position of power, all I want to do is block the guys that would be a disaster…I want to block the liars, I want to block the guys that are pretending they’re with you.. I want a veto power to cut out each and every one of those people,” he said.
The one exception is the vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, who was harsher on Trump than the others, but whose turnaround and pick as his father’s running mate was said to be initiated by Trump Jr from a slew of contenders, giving him the status as a kingmaker within the party.
The ignominious scroll of turnarounds was led by former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley who had challenged Trump in the party primaries, saying he is too unstable and unhinged to be President. On Tuesday, Haley did an about turn, telling party faithful that Donald Trump “has my strong endorsement, period” and “the sake of our nation we have to go with Donald Trump.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, another Indian-American in the GOP line-up who beat Haley to line up behind Trump after also trying for the nomination, delivered another rousing endorsement of the candidate, as did Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, all of them going on bended knee to kiss the ring of the MAGA supremo. Among other insults, Trump had called Nikki Haley a “birdbrain,” called Ted Cruz’ wife ugly, and his campaign dubbed DeSantis “a desperate eunuch.”
Invoking his own background as the son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy said “Our message to every legal immigrant is this: you’re like my parents. You deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America. But our message to illegal immigrants is also this: we will return you to your country of origin, not because you’re all bad people, but because you broke the law.”
Rebuilding bridges with opponents with ingratiating speeches after inner-party knife fights is a typical feature of US politics (also on the Democratic side), but given Trump’s own trademark smackdown of rivals, Tuesday’s turnaround was quite breathtaking. Trump himself sat through the unctuous speeches, smiling benignly and occasionally applauding.
While some of the former rivals are seeking a place at the Trump high table, including cabinet positions, others are returning to the tent to position themselves for a White House run in 2028. But in comments to Axios, the former President’s son Donald Trump Jr indicated that despite their abject turnaround, Trump critics within the party — dubbed RINOs, Republicans In Name Only — would be sidelined.
“I don’t want to pick a single person for a position of power, all I want to do is block the guys that would be a disaster…I want to block the liars, I want to block the guys that are pretending they’re with you.. I want a veto power to cut out each and every one of those people,” he said.
The one exception is the vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, who was harsher on Trump than the others, but whose turnaround and pick as his father’s running mate was said to be initiated by Trump Jr from a slew of contenders, giving him the status as a kingmaker within the party.