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Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde speaks during the Republican National Convention, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump was eulogized Tuesday at the Republican National Convention by former rivals who just months ago sharply criticized him, a show of unity that contrasts with the growing divisions within the Democratic Party.

Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador who was Trump’s final opponent in the Republican primary, addressed her supporters directly after taking the stage to a mix of cheers and boos.

“My message is simple: you don’t have to agree with Trump 100% to vote for him.” Haley said.

She was followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Trump ally turned primary rival who has worked to rebuild his relationship with the former president since dropping out of the primary.

“Donald Trump was demonized. He was prosecuted. He almost lost his life.” DeSantis told the crowd. “We can’t let him down. And we can’t let America down.”

Such overtures are typical of political conventions, whose goal is often to bring a party together after bitter primaries. But Haley and DeSantis’ appearances were particularly notable given the personal animosity that has characterized this year’s Republican race — much of that animosity directed by Trump at Haley and DeSantis.

Those displays of unity stand in stark contrast to the dynamics facing Democrats, many of whom are increasingly uncertain whether President Joe Biden is the right choice to take on Trump in the November election.

DeSantis was once seen as best positioned to challenge Trump’s leadership position. As a presidential candidate, he was slow to criticize Trump directly before repeatedly accusing him of failing to deliver on his promises.

Haley, meanwhile, has portrayed Trump as a chaotic man and suggested the 78-year-old was too old to serve another term. Unlike DeSantis, she did not immediately endorse Trump after he dropped out of office, but waited a few months to announce he had her vote.

The Biden campaign resurrected Haley’s criticism on Tuesday. Campaign spokesman Austin Weatherford said in a statement: “Ambassador Haley said it best herself: Someone who doesn’t respect our military, doesn’t know right from wrong, and surrounds himself with chaos cannot be president.”

Immigration was at the heart of the debates on Tuesday

Several speakers highlighted a key element of the former Trump’s political brand that helped endear him to the Republican base when he launched his first campaign in 2015.

Immigration has long been a key issue for Trump, who has criticized the unprecedented number of migrants entering the United States illegally through the border with Mexico. The number of illegal crossings dropped sharply after President Joe Biden issued a rule suspending many asylum claims at the border.

At rallies and other campaign events, Trump has cited examples of migrants committing heinous crimes and blamed migrants for trafficking drugs like fentanyl, even though federal data suggests that many of the people smuggling fentanyl across the border are U.S. citizens. He has promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has also shifted to arguments unsupported by evidence, including baseless claims that migrants are entering the country to vote in the 2024 election.

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House Majority Leader, made this statement in his remarks, saying: “Biden and Harris want illegal immigrants to vote now that they’ve opened the border.”

The convention lineup featured people the campaign called “Ordinary Americans.” On Tuesday, they included people who had lost loved ones to fentanyl overdoses or violent crimes authorities linked to illegal immigrants in the United States.

Among the speakers was Michael Morin, whose sister was Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman who prosecutors say was killed and raped by a fugitive from El Salvador.

“Joe Biden and his appointed ‘border czar’, Kamala Harris, have opened our borders to him and others like him, allowing them to victimize the innocent,” Morin told the public.

Peer-reviewed academic studies have generally found no link between immigration and violent crime, although conclusions vary depending on the data examined.

Recent assassination attempt against Trump lingers on conventions

Trump’s survival after an assassination attempt Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania was on the minds of many attendees. One delegate in the crowd was visible with a folded piece of white paper over his ear, an apparent homage to the bandage Trump wore when he entered the hall Monday to a cheering crowd.

He was still wearing it when he arrived Tuesday night, appearing even earlier than the day before. Trump entered a few minutes after his new running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.

Scalise, who was injured in a politically motivated shooting in 2017 while practicing for a charity baseball game, spoke from his own experience when discussing Trump’s attack.

“While I was fighting for my life, Donald Trump was one of the first to come to comfort my family in the hospital. That’s the kind of leader he is. Courageous under fire, compassionate toward others,” he added. Scalise said.

In the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday, there has been a heightened focus on security at the convention, which drew thousands of people to downtown Milwaukee, including a number of high-ranking elected officials.

A man armed with an AK-47 pistol and wearing a ski mask was arrested Monday, the first day of the convention, near the Fiserv Forum where the convention is being held, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, five Ohio police officers who were in Wisconsin for the convention shot and killed a man who was in a knife fight near the convention, Milwaukee’s police chief said.

Anticipation for Trump’s speech grows

Trump and Vance were scheduled to speak in the lobby each night of the convention, with Vance scheduled to speak on Wednesday and Trump on Thursday.

Trump, who has long criticized his rivals with harsh language and talked about suing his opponents if he wins a second term, appeared poised to deliver a more moderate speech. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said in an interview with Axios outside the RNC that he spent three or four hours reviewing his father’s convention speech with him, “trying to defuse some of that rhetoric.”

“I think it lasts” the younger Trump said of his father’s change in rhetoric. “There are events that change you for a few minutes, and there are events that change you permanently.”

But Tuesday’s programming also alluded to some of Trump’s old grievances, including several times his debunked theories about election fraud. One of the prime-time panelists, Madeline Brame, took aim at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted Trump for illegally running a bribery scheme to influence the 2016 election. Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a serious crime.

Brame accused Bragg of mishandling the cases against those accused of killing her son. Of Trump, she said, “He was a victim of the same corrupt system as me and my family.”

She then repeated a version of a phrase he has been saying at his rallies for years.

“They are after us” she says. “He just gets in our way.”

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