Donald Trump called them “nasty” and in need of a “personality transplant.”
Now, the Trump campaign is seeking to prove the former president and 2024 GOP presidential nominee has buried the hatchet from a vicious primary fight. Two of Trump’s biggest rivals—former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—will speak back-to-back at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, marking the first stress test of the GOP’s new unity-oriented message, according to a campaign official.
Haley, who Trump mockingly called “Nimbra”—her birth name was Nimarata Nikki Randhawa—will go first in the 9 p.m. ET hour, followed by DeSantis, whose pet name was “DeSanctimonious” until the former president officially retired the nickname.
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When the Daily Beast asked a Trump campaign official if there will be any apologies in the speeches—from slights during the primary to DeSantis still refusing to apologize for his campaign security detail roughing up a teenage boy for trying to ask questions in New Hampshire, as first reported by The Daily Beast—the Trump aide demurred, pointing to how Democrats are behaving at the moment.
“Everyone is trying to take Biden’s job,” the official said before rattling off more boilerplate talking points on party unity.
