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CNN Live Event/Special
Biden: Trump Arrives At Republican National Convention; Haley: Donald Trump Has My Strong Endorsement, Period; Haley, DeSantis Make Case For Trump's Re-Election. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired July 16, 2024 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: Law school.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Yale. Yes.
WALLACE: Yale Law School, rather. Yeah. And Stefanik, a graduate of Harvard.
HUNT: Not that far apart, in fact, in time.
WALLACE: Stefanik, was a George W. Bush, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney Republican who couldn't have been more moderate. She was the head of a group called the Thursday Group, which was a very much a moderate House Republican group. She came to power as the head of the House Republican Conference when Liz Cheney was, in effect, drummed out of the party and she took it over and then fully took on.
[21:00:00]
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There isn't anybody, there isn't anybody who represents the transition of the Republican Party more fully than her. Because she started off, she worked in the Bush White House.
WALLACE: Right.
AXELROD: She started off as a moderate and then realized she might lose a primary. And then she saw some, you know, potential profit in being a Trump advocate.
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: only person in the House --
WALLACE: -- would be JD Vance, David, because he was --
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: She is definitely back in the stage there, this is phenomenon.
WALLACE: -- a Yale Law school graduate who couldn't have been more critical of Donald Trump in 2016.
HUNT: Yeah. And I'm sorry, Chris, I didn't mean to talk over. I'm just having trouble hearing you. There is this phenomenon of people -- I mean, if you look at the Ivy League, particularly the Ivy League law schools at this period of time, the age of Elise Stefanik and JD Vance, there are a number of them. And Joe Biden will be the first person to say that people come out of the Ivy Leagues and they go on to run the United States of America. They have kind of collectively had this transformation.
DANA BASH , CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sorry, Kasie , we're just missing a --
HUNT: Oh, the dance video, oh, no.
WALLACE: This is something that they've been showing quite a bit, is Donald Trump's interesting --
BASH: Playlist.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: -- interesting choreography. It's been described in various --
HUNT: He's obsessed with this
BASH: This is a rally staple.
HUNT: Yes.
BASH: This is Trump rally staple.
HUNT: He is obsessed with this "Village People" song, which may be --
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: And we're not --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great mashup. You got to tell.
WALLACE: An entire floor of the Republican conventions doing what Billy Crystal called the "white man's overbite" when Harry Met Sally.
TAPPER: It used to be, I think, that Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" was the most misconstrued song played at a Republican convention.
AXELROD: Yeah.
TAPPER: But I think possibly YMCA by the Village People might actually take the crown away.
BASH: It's not even close, Jake. This is number one right now.
AXELROD: Can I just take a minute? Sometime during this week, I wanted to applaud your cultural fluency. You have interpreted every song for us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't butter it above that.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: We used to work at VH1. David Urban, you were making a point before when I had to interrupt --
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I was just going to say where you were talking about who's in the box. We missed a little kerfuffle today. Matt Gaetz is in the box.
TAPPER: Hold on one second, David, I promise I'll come back to you. But here he is himself, the nominee, still wearing the bandage from the assassination attempt.
URBAN: And Jake, I just say, look, it's like a Dana White walking down the UFC. That's what it -- that's what it -- that's the vibe it gives off. Right? Like a fighter coming to the gate --
TAPPER: I don't think that's an accident David.
URBAN: -- coming to the octagon. Right?
TAPPER: I don't think that's an accident.
URBAN: I don't -- I don't think it is.
TAPPER: Let's listen to him.
BASH: All right, Jake, go on this song. Jake? "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A."
TAPPER: I thought this is, "What I Like About You."
BASH: Oh, you're right, "What I Like About You." You are right.
TAPPER: By the Romantics.
URBAN: Look at that right to the camera.
WALLACE: Can I say, it's a different Donald Trump than it was yesterday. Much less sober, much more Donald Trump as we have seen him over the years.
URBAN: A little more energized.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
TAPPER: David. OK, back to you, and I promise not to interrupt this time.
URBAN: I was going to say, with Matt Gaetz had mentioned that Matt Gaetz was in the box. Earlier today Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy had a kerfuffle on the floor, for lack of a better word --
TAPPER: In the middle of Kaitlan Collins interviewing Kevin McCarthy.
URBAN: Yeah. I'm not sure that everybody got to see. But Matt Gaetz went up to Kevin McCarthy during his interview and screamed at him and said, what is your speaking slot tonight? Kind of mocked him. It was a -- it was kind of a moment if people didn't get to see it. I'm sure it lives on the -- on the Internet.
AXELROD: This would be so difficult, you know.
TAPPER: It was a pretty ugly moment between McCarthy and Gaetz.
BASH: I mean, look at these two men together. I agree with you, Chris. A very different vibe last night.
AXELROD: Yeah. Tonight. Yeah.
BASH: It was intended as a hero's welcome. He was very subdued. Now it's, it's party time. That's what they're --
HUNT: Its celebratory.
BASH: Yeah, celebratory. That's what they're trying to give off.
WALLACE: And this is the vintage Donald Trump that either people had no one love or no one don't love.
URBAN: And it's interesting who's in the box, right? It's mostly House members you can see there. Not a lot of Senators. I didn't see Senator Scott.
BASH: But it's also lot of the firebrands.
TAPPER: Yeah.
BASH: Which is --
URBAN: But Tom Emmer -- Tom Emmer, you know, and Elise are more mainstream firebrands. You have Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, of course there.
BASH: Yeah.
AXELROD: By the way, one of the interesting things about Emmer's remarks earlier was he zeroed in on Kamala Harris. And it felt to me a little bit like, you know what, maybe we better hedge our bets just a little bit.
BASH: And he also --
TAPPER: Yeah, that was interesting. That was an interesting note. Yeah.
[21:05:00]
BASH: Sorry. Quickly talk about why the president is here tonight. The former president is here tonight. He's here tonight because he wants to make a point to be in the hall when his former rivals, particularly Nikki Haley, give their speeches.
AXELROD: This goes back to the surrender notion.
TAPPER: So the theme of the night is "Make America Safe Again." And so we're going to hear a lot about crime, we're going to hear a lot about -- we're going to hear a lot about the border. We're going to hear a lot about illegal immigration. These are issues that are bread and butter issues for the Trump campaign as far back as 2015 and even before then, before we ever actually entered elected office.
And some of the people that we're going to hear from, coming up, Senator Ted Cruz, obviously a big rival turned convert to the Trump cause. We're going to hear from Nikki Haley, Governor Ron DeSantis. We're also going to hear from some real hardliners in the Senate, including Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, that in addition to a number of attorneys general and police officers. A clear theme.
URBAN: I'm going to say in '16, Dan and I, I was helping run the convention and kick Dan off the floor at that point because Ted Cruz and Ken Cuccinelli were attempting to unseat Donald Trump on the floor of the Senate. Ted Cruz was leading the charge. And it's kind of bizarre to have him here tonight, kind of praising Caesar.
TAPPER: Not only that, he, he refused to endorse Donald Trump in his convention speech.
URBAN: It was not a great speech.
TAPPER: He said he told people to vote their conscience. It's not what we're going to hear.
HUNT: Another Ivy league --
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: What a completely different -- different vibe. Look, the fact that the Trump campaign, maybe the former president himself, arranged to have all of these individuals who opposed him with very, very direct, aggressive, ugly language, in many cases, particularly that of Ron DeSantis, and even more so, of course, of Nikki Haley. That he decided to have them all on one, at one night.
Yes. David Axelrod, it is the surrender evening, but it is also his attempt to also give the nod to the unity that he's trying to give off.
AXELROD: Yes, absolutely. I get that.
BASH: Yeah.
AXELROD: I get that. But he'll favor the surrender point.
URBAN: But the message is the Republican Party is united, right? And the Democratic Party going to --
TAPPER: Yeah. Let's listen in.
URBAN: That's the vibe.
TAPPER: We're going to hear from a number of former rivals, including his biggest rival in 2016, Senator Ted Cruz. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): God bless, Donald J. Trump.
(CHEERING)
CRUZ: And let me start by giving thanks to God almighty for protecting President Trump.
(CHEERING)
CRUZ: And for turning his head on Saturday as the shot was fired. Together, we lift up in prayer all of our leaders for protection. And our prayers are in particular with the family of Fire Chief Corey Comperatore and the others injured on Saturday.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Never before has an election mattered so much. We are facing an invasion on our southern border. Not figuratively a literal invasion. 11.5 million people have crossed our border illegally under Joe Biden.
(BOOING)
CRUZ: Look around you. This arena holds about 18,000 souls. Now imagine 639 arenas just like this filled to the brim. That is 11.5 million people, larger than all but eight states in the nation.
But the numbers don't show us the true price that our country is paying. Every day Americans are dying, murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released. Teenage girls and boys wearing colored wristbands are being sold into a life of sex slavery. This is evil and it's wrong, and it is happening every damn day.
[21:10:00]
Think of Kate Steinle. She was 32, walking with her father on a San Francisco Pier when a bullet tore through her heart. The man who fired that gun, he'd been deported five times. Every damn day. Think of Laken Riley, just 22 years old, a nursing student with dreams of healing others. She went for a jog and never came home, her life taken by someone who should have never been here. Every damn day.
Or Rachel Morin, a beautiful mother of five, raped and murdered in suburban Maryland by an illegal immigrant the Democrats released, every damn day. Or Jocelyn Nungaray, only 12 years old. It was just one month ago today that she was brutally raped and murdered in Houston by two men who were supposed to be detained and monitored, but instead released and allowed to roam free, every damn day.
(CROWD: EVERY DAMN DAY)
CRUZ: These aren't just stories or statistics. They're our daughters, our sisters, our friends. The families don't care about the empty numbers. They care about the empty chairs at the dinner table, about the voices they'll never hear again. About the laughter lost and about the dreams that will never be fulfilled. I've sat with these families in living rooms where the silence is so loud that it hurts, where photo albums are opened with trembling hands.
How did we get here? It happened because Democrats cynically decided they wanted votes from illegals more than they wanted to protect our children.
(BOOING)
CRUZ: Today, as a result of Joe Biden's presidency, your family is less safe. Your children are less safe. The country is less safe. But here's the good news. We can fix it. And when Donald Trump is president, we will fix it.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: We know this because he's done it before. I know this because I worked hand in hand with President Trump to secure our border, and we achieved the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: It's real simple. He's done it before, and he'll do it again. So tonight, I speak for Kate and Laken and Rachel. Tonight I speak for Jocelyn. And let us go forward together and keep our sacred oath to defend the constitution and to protect the American people. Let us secure our borders, enforce our laws, protect our children, and restore the future.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Because when we do that, but when we remember who we are and who we love, and we act to protect them, then and only then will we truly make America great again.
[21:15:00]
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Thank you. God bless, Texas, and God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas giving a rousing address eaten up by the delegates here at the Republican National Convention on the dangers of criminals who have crossed the border illegally and come to this country. A real low light list of some of the worst offenders of the past several years. And keeping in theme with tonight's program, which is Make America Safe Again.
But Donald Trump, there we see him right there, he's making sure he's in the convention hall tonight to hear what his former primary opponents, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have to say to delegates and to voters who have come. We're just minutes away from those pivotal speeches. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:20:43]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: About to hear one of the most important speeches at the Republican National Convention, Nikki Haley, perhaps Donald Trump's fiercest critic during a bitter GOP primary, is set to make the case to voters who are still skeptical about sending the former president back to the White House.
It's going to be fascinating, Scott Jennings, I mean, to hear what she has to say to watch President -- former President Trump watching her. He clearly, I don't think it's a coincidence that he wants to be there to see this.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, this is a big macro party unity moment. I'm told by a source familiar with Trump's thinking and actions today that he personally changed his schedule to ensure that he would be in the arena for both Haley and DeSantis. And I think the message they're trying to communicate is that we've got a functional, unified political party and we're running against the dumpster fire of a political party right now.
And I -- you know, politics is a team sport. And right now, the Republican team pretty well together, Democrat team, I don't know guys. I don't know.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I see it a little differently from the Republican side. So this invokes 2016 when Ted Cruz didn't quite endorse on the floor and Donald Trump showed up while he was speaking and it was this moment of kind of, you heard the noise, the kind of shuffling a pin could drop that Ted Cruz was on the stage and he was watching, saying, I dare you.
Now, Nikki Haley could do one of two things. She could continue to litigate the case of why we need to be involved on the international stage, why NATO matters, or this could purely be a groveling to secure continued place in the Republican Party, where it's just an outright defense of Donald Trump neglecting, everything that she said on the campaign trail. I guess, there's a world in which she could do both. But this is vintage Donald Trump, to have those who once opposed him have to face him and kiss the ring.
JENNINGS: But why can't it just be that she says, look, maybe we don't agree on everything, but we do agree on the most important thing, Joe Biden is worst president of our lifetime, and I'm going to help Donald Trump defeat him. Wouldn't that be the smartest thing for her and the best thing for Trump?
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it might be -- might be the best thing for her or Trump. But I don't think it be the best thing for the world. In other words, this is a party that matters, Republican Party matters.
And having somebody who believes in our role in the world, you got people in Ukraine who should be terrified right now, because you have a Republican Party that has a standard bearer. And now a vice presidential pick that doesn't give a damn about it. And Nikki Haley stood in the breach in that party, and she spoke for them, and she spoke for a role in the world that is a benevolent role and a strong role.
Now, if she abandons that post, that's a terrible outcome. What that would say is, you cannot be in this party and deviate from Donald Trump one inch on this sort of extreme MAGA agenda. And I think that makes the whole world a less safe place.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Wholeheartedly agree with that. And there are obviously significant policy differences that were litigated during the campaign, that we'll see, as you guys have pointed out, whether she deviates from. But, you know, also, don't forget, there was a really personal element to her criticism of him. I mean, she called him unhinged. She called him diminished.
So I think, you know, in addition to these very important questions about where she substantively is going to drive the conversation, there's -- I think there's also a question of whether she's going to try to paper over any of that. Is she going to attest to his character in some way? Is she going to --
I mean, there's a difference between having a, you know, healthy and aggressive policy debate in a primary process and then ultimately endorsing the eventual nomination and coming out in support of somebody who you described as unhinged and diminished. So there's that personal element here too. It's going to be interesting to see where she goes.
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, Kamala Harris said some unkind things about Joe Biden's racial record, and she ended up on this ticket. So, I mean, like, people do bury the hatchets from time to time. That said, look, and I think I've said it before. I'll say it again. My wife worked for Nikki Haley. I like Nikki Haley. I know Nikki Haley.
I'll be really disappointed if she doesn't plant the flag on some of the issues that I know, think are very important to her. She's now at the Hudson Institute where she oversees a lot of those issues. But I just want to say something -- and I don't want to hurt Scott here. But --
JENNINGS: That's OK. After 7 years, Jonah --
GOLDBERG: I know. But --
JENNINGS: -- I'm the chief spear catcher.
GOLDBERG: You you've been going full kumbaya for the last, you know, 36 hours saying how this is post the assassination attempt Trump has changed. He wants to signal that he's a conciliator and all these kind of stuff. It doesn't feel like there was a possibility that was true last night. There was a big tentish feel, a little bit.
Tonight, it doesn't feel like Representative Scalise rewrote his remarks to fit the moment. Here's a guy who was shot in political violence, and it felt like a bit of a throwaway at the end of a lot of red meat. Kari Lake, Elise Stefanik, none of these -- it felt pretty much business as usual. Hail Comrade Trump, he will deliver the greatest wheat harvest we've ever seen. He's got the urals kind of stuff. And, so I just don't think the tea leaves are going your way, my friend.
[21:25:00]
JENNINGS: Buddy, I'm over here practicing gratitude. I am manifesting abundance, and I am trying --
COOPER: You're sitting with us. He's sitting with Marjorie Taylor Greene.
JENNINGS: I'm trying to will into existence.
GOLDBERG: I understand. You're the change you want to see in the world.
JENNINGS: Yeah. And here's the thing. Here's the thing. If he takes advantage of this moment, he'll just end this campaign this week. So I guess, what I'm trying to do is will into existence the end of this campaign.
GOLDBERG: But if Lucy just holds the football.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, I mean,
GOLDBERG: -- just once.
(CROSSTALK)
BEDINGFIELD: By the way, is this the week he's going to become presidential?
GRIFFIN: Yes. This is the week -- it's important to note Nikki Haley, unlike a lot of politicians in the Trump era, actually has core convictions, and they're mostly around foreign policy and America's role in the world. This is a massive opportunity. It's not just us domestically watching this. World leaders, especially European leaders, are on edge about what's going to happen after the JD Vance pick. Someone who, to Jonah' point said, I don't really care about Ukraine.
So a huge moment for her to show this can be a big party. There can be conversations about the direction we go. And I think a lot of folks that she -- she got more votes than anyone other than Trump in the Republican primary. There's a lot of people who are looking to her for leadership.
JENNINGS: She's not the only Republican who supports Ukraine. OK? Mike Johnson, who spoke tonight, was the linchpin -- (CROSSTALK)
JONES: He said nothing about it. That's why --
JENNINGS: He was the linchpin in getting the --
(CROSSTALK)
GOLDBERG: He said nothing about it tonight.
BEDINGFIELD: Also after scowling at for months
JENNINGS: OK. Would you rather him make a speech now or get the funding then?
GOLDBERG: Well, I'm grateful of Mike Johnson for what he did.
JENNINGS: OK.
GOLDBERG: My point is if --
JENNINGS: You all act like Nikki Haley's the last Republican. She's not. There's the first two members of congress that are.
GOLDBERG: And none of them have said anything about this stuff. Right?
JENNINGS: It's not a foreign policy election. It is a domestic election, and it's about --
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: This theme tonight --
JENNINGS: -- to not going to run the race on Ukraine.
GOLDBERG: But if it was OK for David Sacks to say last night that Joe Biden --
JENNINGS: I don't care what he says.
GRIFFIN: Also --
JENNINGS: I don't care.
GOLDBERG: They put him in the -- they put him in the lineup. That's my only point.
JENNINGS: But the people who have positions of governing responsibility have acted, and a huge number of Republicans supported Ukraine. They're not going to run a Ukraine foreign policy election.
(CROSSTALK)
BEDINGFIELD: But also -- but also the idea
GRIFFIN: Appointments are going to matter in the second Trump term, and I think the JD Vance, VP pick signals what he's leaning into.
COOPER: Absolutely.
GRIFFIN: I don't know that we should expect the Secretary of State Nikki Haley. I think this is a moment to show why she would matter for that. You may see some real isolationist in those roles. That's very different. That's markedly different than the first term.
JENNINGS: I don't disagree with the rise of isolationism. I'm just disputing that Nikki Haley is the last human Republican alive.
GOLDBERG: That's not what I've said. No. No. But she ran on those issues. She's known for those issues. It's her night to speak. If you want to say --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: I don't see she brings it up. I do.
GOLDBERG: If it's a big tent, she will. If she doesn't bring it up, it really is a signal.
COOPER: Nikki Haley is about to be introduced. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
NIKKI HALEY (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My fellow Republicans, President Trump -- President Trump asked me to speak to this convention in the name of unity.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: It was a gracious invitation and I was happy to accept.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: I'll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: 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 is for President Kamala Harris. After seeing the debate, everyone knows it's true. If we have 4 more years of Biden or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off. For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.
[21:30:00]
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE) HALEY: But there's more to it than that. We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don't agree with Donald Trump a 100 percent of the time. I happen to know some of them. And I want to speak to them tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
HALEY: My message to them is simple. You don't have to agree with Trump a 100 percent of the time to vote for him.
(CHEERING)
HALEY: Take it from me. I haven't always agreed with President Trump, but we agree more often than we disagree.
(CHEERING)
HALEY: We agree on keeping America strong. We agree on keeping America safe.
(CHEERING)
HALEY: And we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the Left that they're putting our freedoms in danger.
(APPLAUSE)
HALEY: I'm here tonight because we have a country to save, and a unified Republican Party is essential for saving her.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING U.S.A)
HALEY: For those who have some doubts about President Trump, I want to tell you a few things about the commander in chief I know and worked with. As ambassador to the United Nations, I had a front row seat to his national security policies. We sure could use those again.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: Think about it. When Barack Obama was president, Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea. With Joe Biden as president, Putin invaded all of Ukraine. But when Donald Trump was president, Putin did nothing. No invasions.
(APPLAUSE)
HALEY: No invasions. No wars. That was no accident. Putin didn't attack Ukraine because he knew Donald Trump was tough. A strong a strong president doesn't start wars. A strong president prevents wars.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING Trump!, Trump!, Trump!) HALEY: Then look at the Middle East. Every problem in that part of the world can be laid at the feet of Iran. The dictators who chant death to America are the bank rollers and weapons suppliers for Hamas and Hezbollah. They're behind the barbaric massacres and the hostage taking.
Once again, compare Trump and Biden. Trump got us out of the insane Iran nuclear deal.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: He imposed the toughest sanctions ever on Iran, and he eliminated the arch terrorist, Qasem Soleimani.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: Iran was too weak to start any wars. They knew Trump meant business and they were afraid. And then there's Joe Biden.
(BOOING)
[21:35:00]
HALEY: He lifted the sanctions. He begged them to get back into the nuclear deal. He surrendered in Afghanistan. He sent every possible sign of weakness. Even now, while Hamas is still holding Americans hostage, Biden is pressuring Israel instead of the terrorists.
(BOOING)
HALEY: Between Israel and Hamas, Donald Trump is clear about who is our friend and who is our enemy.
(APPLAUSE)
HALEY: Then look at the border. It's the single biggest face -- it's the single biggest threat Americans face. Under Joe Biden, migrants are coming into our country by the thousands every day. We have no idea who they are, where they end up, or what they plan to do. And let me remind you, Kamala had one job, one job, and that was to fix the border. Now imagine her in charge of the entire country.
(BOOING)
HALEY: Under Donald Trump, we didn't have the border disaster we had today, and we won't when he is president again.
(CROWD CHANTING U.S.A)
(CHANTING)
HALEY: I was proud to serve America in President Trump's cabinet. And I'll tell you something you won't hear from the critics. He appreciated advice and input. Americans were well served by his presidency, even if they didn't agree with him on all things.
Now, to my fellow Republicans, we must not only be a unified party, we must also expand our party.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: We are so much better when we are bigger. We are stronger when we welcome people into our party who have different backgrounds and experiences. And right now, we need to be strong to save America. This is a defining moment, not only for our party, but for our country.
Our fellow Americans are fearful right now. Families are suffering from inflation and wages that don't keep up with prices. Young people are being indoctrinated to think our country is racist and evil. The Jewish community is facing an obscene rise in anti-Semitism.
Too many minorities are trapped in communities devastated by crime. Our foreign enemies win when they see Americans hate each other. They see that today whether it's on college campuses or in a field in Butler, Pennsylvania.
(APPLAUSE)
HALEY: But we can conquer those fears with strength and unity. No president can fix all of our problems alone. We have to do this together. America has an amazing ability to self-correct. In this moment, we have a chance to put aside our differences and focus on what unites us and strengthens our country.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: Let us join together as a party. Let us come together as a people, as one country, strong and proud. Let us show our children and the world that even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.
(CHEERING)
HALEY: God bless you. Thank you. God bless the United States of America.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: And now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
(CHEERING)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): My fellow Republican, let's send Joe Biden back to his basement and let's send Donald Trump back to the White House.
(CHEERING)
[21:40:00]
DESANTIS: Life was more affordable when Donald Trump was president. Our border was safer under the Trump administration, and our country was respected when Donald Trump was our commander-in-chief. (CHEERING)
DESANTIS: Joe Biden has failed this nation. As a veteran, I was appalled when 13 of our service members were killed in Afghanistan due to Joe Biden's dereliction of duty. As a citizen, as a husband, and as a father, I am alarmed that the current president of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office.
Our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. We need we need a commander-in-chief who can lead 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. America cannot afford 4 more years of a weekend at Bernie's presidency.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: But let's be honest. Let's be honest here. Biden is just a figurehead. He's a tool for imposing a Leftist agenda on the American people. They support open borders, allowing millions and millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country and to burden our communities, but just don't send any to Martha's Vineyard, then they get really upset.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: They have unleashed progressive prosecutors across our nation who care more about coddling criminals than about protecting their own communities. They use the unelected bureaucracy to impose their will on us without our consent, and they weaponize political power to target their political opponents, like they've done to our own nominee.
They want to ban gas automobiles, eliminate Second Amendment rights, and impose gender ideology on everyone from our infantrymen to kindergartners.
(BOOING)
DESANTIS: They stand for DEI, which really means division, exclusion, and indoctrination, and it is wrong.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: They mandated that you show proof of a COVID vaccine to go to a restaurant, but they oppose requiring proof of citizenship to cast a vote.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: They can't even define what a woman is. Now Donald Trump stands in their way, and he stands up for America. Donald Trump has been demonized. He's been sued. He's been prosecuted, and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down, and we cannot let America down.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: It is the values of this Republican party that reflect our nation's founding principles. We believe schools should educate, not indoctrinate. We stand for parents' rights, including universal school choice.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: We support law and order, not rioting and disorder. We seek a strong, focused United States military, not one distracted by a social agenda. We reject entrenched political class, and we demand term limits from members of Congress.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: We stand for fiscal sanity, for low taxes, and for reduced debt. We seek to reclaim the constitutional government as envisioned by our founding fathers by bringing the administrative state to heel once and for all.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: We believe that you must be a citizen in order to vote and that photo ID should be required before casting a ballot.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: We stand for strong borders and believe that our nation must have a shared civic culture, and we oppose any immigration that stands apart or in contrast to our American values.
[21:45:00]
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: We believe in the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence that our rights come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of the almighty, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: Now none of this is easy, but it can be done. For decades, my home state saw elections determined by razor thin margins. Today, due to bold leadership, the Democratic party lies in ruins. The Left is in retreat. Freedom reigns supreme. The woke mind virus is dead, and Florida is a solid Republican state.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: Now electing Donald Trump gives us the chance to do this all across America, and we have a responsibility to step up and make it happen. We have a responsibility to preserve what George Washington called the Sacred Fire of Liberty. This was a fire that burned in Independence Hall in 1776 when 56 men pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to establish this nation.
It's a fire that burned at a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, when our nation's first Republican president pledged this nation to a new birth of freedom. It's a fire that burned at the foot of the Berlin Wall in 1987 when our nation's 40th president stood in front of that wall and said, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: This is not a responsibility we should fear. It's a responsibility we should welcome. After all, if not us, who? And if not now, when? Let's make the 45th president of the United States the 47th president of the United States.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
DESANTIS: Let's elect Republicans up and down the ballot, and let's heed the call of our party's nominee to fight, fight, fight for these United States. Thank you. God bless you. Let's win in November. Thank you so much.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, following, Nikki Haley on the stage. Alyssa Farah Griffin?
GRIFFIN: Well, listen. Donald Trump is loving this. You could see the smirk. He likes to see his former opponents coming and, you know, giving their full throated endorsements.
Listen. Nikki Haley gave a great speech for this convention hall and for Donald Trump's ears and for the hopes of having a future in the MAGA Republican Party. I think there were tremendous missed opportunities around the issue of NATO and Ukraine. She briefly alluded to it. This is someone who, when campaigning herself, called Donald Trump out on saying he would let Russia invade NATO countries.
That could have been a moment. I think that her thought was, she needs to stand by the guy who's very likely going to be the next president.
COOPER: Trump did not seem as pleased with her as he did. He seemed to like Ron DeSantis' speech more than Nikki Haley's.
GRIFFIN: Yeah, the thing that's remarkable is there are certain things Trump just won't let go with certain people, and I don't see a world in which he's going to forgive Nikki Haley for calling him unhinged and diminished and many of the attacks on the campaign trail, even with a full throated endorsement like this. So if it was an audition for a future cabinet post, I don't see that happening.
Whereas, Aron DeSantis was quick to drop out to endorse and not really criticize him in his harsh of a way. I think he was much happier with that. But what I also, to the point Jonah made earlier, these were 2 people who were thinking, oh, they might be the 2028 contenders. They're really not now. JD Vance is the future of the party and those who try to replicate him are.
BEDINGFIELD: I think for her to -- can I just say, for her to argue that, you know, Putin didn't invade when Trump was president because somehow he was strong. But then to glide over the fact that Trump has said repeatedly in this campaign that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants with our NATO allies if they aren't -- you know, if they aren't paid up.
I mean, first of all, I think you can make an argument that part of the reason that Putin didn't invade when Trump was president is because, he saw Trump pulling away from our allies. He saw Trump separating the United States from Europe, and that is part of his larger goal, anyway.
So to me, that's an argument of -- from a position of weakness, not strength. And I think for her to glide over that, is it's, you know, troubling that she's not, I think, willing to speak truth in this moment.
The other thing I would say is, you know, just to go to what Ron DeSantis was presenting there. I mean, it seems like our national moment of unity is over. He spent the entire, you know, speech going at all of these cultural war issues, trying to be divisive. I mean, if this was -- if this was sort of a test --
[21:50:00]
COOPER: He laid off Disney this time.
BEDINGFIELD: If this was -- yeah. If this was a test of, you know, kind of to, you know, Scott's suggestion, the new direction of the Trump Republican Party, that sounded a whole lot like the old Trump Republican Party to me.
JENNINGS: OK. I'm trying to put the springs back in my ears about what Nikki Haley said is objectively true about what Russia did on Obama's watch and what they've done on Biden's watch. That's number one. Look. She did what she had to do. This is how it's supposed to work.
GRIFFIN: But does it work? Does it move any votes?
JENNINGS: You run, and when you don't win, you go to the convention, and you give a speech --
GRIFFIN: Then you growl shamelessly.
JENNINGS: No, she did not. She gave a strong speech. She talked about the issues that she cares about. This is how it is supposed to work for her, for Donald Trump, and for the Republican Party.
For Ron DeSantis, he tickled every pleasure center a Republican could have. Believe me, I got them all. I know.
COOPER: Wow.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: And it was great, and you could hear it in the convention hall. So compared to somewhere else in America tonight where your people are huddling in dark corners, trying to figure out how to overthrow the president of the United States. This is preferable political --
GRIFFIN: Scott, I thought we were in the moment of my people. I thought we were in a moment for all Americans.
COOPER: We're going to get a break.
GOLDBERG: So very quickly.
GRIFFIN: Come on.
GOLDBERG: I'm glad she basically put markers down on her issues. I agree with that. Right? I wish that we could've heard something nice about alliances. My theory though is what she was doing was it was actually kind of clever. She was getting the audience to cheer at moments where Trump had an assertive, interventionist, engaging the world foreign policy to sort of remind the audience and Donald Trump that the Vivek Ramaswamy swivel that he was paddling earlier isn't actually where the Republican Party is.
Would I have liked something -- as a someone who cares more about conservatism than the Republican Party, would I have liked something a little more forthright? Yes. But I agree with you that for a convention speech where it's supposed to be boilerplate, you know, team spirit stuff, I think she --
JENNINGS: I accept you apology.
COOPER: There, there.
JONES: Nikki Haley looked miserable, but she did what she had to do.
GOLDBERG: A bit of a hostage [ph].
COOPER: She'll have a Republican showcase -- sorry, we got to go -- showcasing Senator Marco Rubio on a prime, the hour after he was passed up for the VP slot. Also, coming up, Laura Trump, the RNC Co- Chair and daughter-in-law of the former president of state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:57:09]
TAPPER: It is Prime Time at the Republican National Convention night 2, and there's much more ahead including speeches by two of Donald Trump's opponents back in 2016, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Dr. Ben Carson who served in Trump's cabinet.
I want to bring, back, my panel. And, Kasie Hunt, the theme tonight is Make America Safe Once Again, and you really have heard, lots of, discussion about ways that Republicans here think that President Biden is failing.
HUNT: You did indeed, including from Nikki Haley, who, of course, centered her speech around the foreign policy issues that have been at the heart of her sort of reason for being, in in recent years.
And, you know, one of the things that I kept turning over my head as I was listening to our colleagues talk about Nikki Haley is, that there -- to a certain extent, was a pretty naked political benefit to her for being here and that, you know, the events and the unity that the party has tried to display over the course of the last few days, made it much simpler for her to be here, much easier to explain.
And also on the flip side, made it harder if she had decided not to show up ultimately in the wake of that assassination attempt. That's something that if she really does want a future in Republican politics, and it's clear she does, she wouldn't have been able to explain it away.
AXELROD: I don't think those two -- I don't think DeSantis and Haley are necessarily signed on to the, Vance for President campaign in 2028.
HUNT: Absolutely not.
AXELROD: And they're paying -- they're going through the toll booth here just to make clear that they're still on the road. I mean, that's what's happened here.
TAPPER: And you know what? You know what? You can -- all the people talking about -- I hear this, especially on the other panel about how, like, Vance is now the heir apparent. I mean, you can talk to President Quayle about how those calculations go.
URBAN: That's true.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I think they will have to go through Vance to get to --
TAPPER: We'll see.
URBAN: You know, I think it's going to be tough. Listen, what I thought was interesting is, Nikki Haley got a lot more votes than Ron DeSantis in the primary. Yeah. When they both entered this arena, they entered it differently.
The speech by the governor of Florida much more well received by the red meat crowd. A lot of cheers, much louder.
TAPPER: It's also a red meat speech.
URBAN: But I'm saying it was a much better --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was delivered at very high volume.
URBAN: -- the dynamic, the vibe of -- the vibe of this arena --
BASH: This speech was for the TV audience.
URBAN: Yeah. No. But the vibe of this arena is much more Ron DeSantis than Nikki Haley.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she had a pretty mixed reaction when she came onto the floor. I mean, it wasn't --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: You get that from --.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't universally -- yeah, it was a little hard to tell, but there were some boos in the room for Nikki Haley.
But let's be honest. I mean, I don't -- no one should be surprised that Nikki Haley is here tonight. She ran a race that was very clearly leaving a window open to eventually endorse Donald Trump, because she knows that that is what has to happen if she ever wants to run again.
I mean and this has always been part of the plan for her. The delay was only about trying to gain some kind of leverage. And, actually, it it's really about Donald Trump completely denying any leverage whatsoever. He gave her nothing. He gave her supporters nothing, and she is still here.
BASH: She gave that speech through griddity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
