Following the withdrawal this week of Nikki Haley from the Republican presidential primary, President Joe Biden invited — via prepared remarks released publicly — supporters of the former candidate to support his campaign as the incumbent prepares for an expected rematch this November with Donald Trump.
Trump won a series of GOP nominating contests held Tuesday, after which Haley — the last remaining serious challenger to Trump in the race — dropped out, though not before consistently winning significant portions of the GOP vote in some states.
“Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters,” Biden’s statement said. “I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign. I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.”
Haley did not endorse Trump in her speech announcing the end of her primary campaign, breaking with the path taken by fellow ex-candidates in the primary including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.). Trump has, in fact, been consistent in characterizing support for Haley’s now ended campaign as a betrayal — though Wednesday on his knock-off social media site Truth Social, he took a different approach.
“I’d like to thank my family, friends, and the Great Republican Party for helping me to produce, by far, the most successful Super Tuesday in HISTORY, and would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation,” Trump wrote online.
Trump has also defined his latest presidential bid with grievance and threats to the United States’ standing in the world, even suggesting in a quickly controversial campaign speech that he’d support Russia in a potential military stand-off with NATO members if they failed to meet claimed defense spending requirements, the nature of which he misrepresents.
