OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Nikki Haley, a former Republican presidential candidate who sparred with Donald Trump during the 2024 primary season, is firmly backing the 2024 GOP nominee.
Haley, who briefly served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, is in talks to join him on the campaign trail in an attempt to win over disaffected Republicans.
“The details and dates for the joint appearance haven’t been fully worked out, but the likeliest scenario would put the two together at a town hall toward the end of the month, perhaps involving Fox News personality Sean Hannity, the sources said,” The Bulwark reported.
“Facing a yawning gender gap, Trump’s campaign has hosted five other town halls moderated by female political figures since August, but none with the stature of Haley. The former ambassador ran a tough primary race against Trump, becoming the last Republican standing against him. Though the primary ended on a contentious note, she spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention on July 16,” the outlet added.
A well-known Republican consultant familiar with discussions in Trump’s campaign said Haley has “already exceeded expectations helping us out,” adding that “she has done a robocall supporting Trump and she has helped fundraise for the [former] president.”
“There’s no reason to doubt her loyalty and willingness to help,” the source said. “Now they just have to get the schedules lined up.”
Some people close to Trump weren’t sure that a joint event would happen, though. They thought that bad feelings could get in the way.
A Trump associate who did not want to be named said, “I’ll believe it when I see” Haley on stage with Trump.
“I hope it happens,” the adviser said, adding that Haley would be a great addition to Trump’s town hall series with women hosts, such as former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in Wisconsin, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Michigan, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn in Michigan, Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in North Carolina, and Fox News host Harris Faulkner in Georgia.
“Anyone who wants to make America great again, secure our southern border, restore law and order, and bring down inflation only has one option on the ballot, and that option is President Donald J. Trump,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who criticized Harris. “We welcome all Americans who share these values to join our team.”
A top Republican consultant…said Haley has “already exceeded expectations helping us out,”
“There’s no reason to doubt her loyalty and willingness to help,” “Now they just have to get the schedules lined up.”https://t.co/Ngy6gYnoGk
🇺🇸👀 https://t.co/A91FrpBeyt pic.twitter.com/cGCeuluRtR
— Amerinder Khatra (@AmerinderKhatra) October 18, 2024
Back in August, Haley made it clear that Haley declared that she is firmly backing Trump.
“Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Our country is at a critical moment. We have a choice to make. For more than a year, I said, a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Kamala Harris. Everyone knows it’s true,” Haley said.
“Four more years of Biden or four more years of Harris, our country will be badly worse off. For the sake of our nation. We have to go with Donald Trump. But there’s more to it than that. 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. My message to them is simple. You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him. Take it from me. I haven’t always agreed with President Trump, but we agree more often than we disagree,” Haley added.
This comes as there is fresh doubt over the first presidential debate in September between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Trump’s team, according to the source, would like for the microphones to be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, as was the case during the first debate with President Joe Biden,” CNN reported.
“The Harris campaign, however, is requesting that ABC and other networks seeking to host a potential October debate keep microphones on, according to a senior campaign official, marking a change from the June debate when the then-Biden campaign wanted microphones muted except when it was a candidate’s turn to speak,” the outlet added.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, said in a statement.
“Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button,” Fallon added.
Trump’s team has said that when they agreed to the ABC debate with Harris as the front-runner, they agreed to follow the same rules as the last debate.
“Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.
The Harris and Trump camps are at an impasse over rules ahead of the Sept 10 ABC debate.
The holdup? Whether the candidates’ microphones will be muted when it isn’t their turn to speak.
Team Trump wants them muted.
Team Harris wants the mics hot.https://t.co/FDrCdAnvzO
— Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) August 26, 2024
