Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley plans to vote for Trump, a man she campaigned to defeat this year and a presumptive nominee she has said creates “chaos” wherever he goes. “Biden has been a catastrophe” on international affairs, securing the border and defending U.S. allies abroad, she said at a Hudson Institute event Wednesday while explaining her intended vote.
After Haley quit the primary race in March, allies predicted she would ultimately endorse Trump to avoid permanently alienating the GOP’s hardcore base.
“I’m not looking for anything from him,” Haley said in February.
Two big questions: What happens to Haley’s supporters who backed her before and after she withdrew from the contest? And would Trump consider her to be his running mate? He has said no.
Some Senate Republicans who have been Trump detractors plan to skip the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer. GOP Sens. Mitt Romney (Utah), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Todd Young (Ind.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) told The Hill they do not plan to attend the nominating event. Republican Sens. Mike Rounds (S.D.), Susan Collins (Maine), Bill Cassidy (La.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) indicated they are undecided. Of the group, Rounds and Tillis support Trump’s third bid for the White House after holding out for months.
Trump has called Romney a “Democrat secret asset.” Romney said the former president, whom he voted to convict during impeachment, had a “dangerous approach” in office and an authoritarian streak.
The former president has described Murkowski as a “RINO” — Republican in name only — who was “disloyal.” Rounds made it clear he would vote for his party’s presidential nominee this year as his preferred choice to Biden.
