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Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, has backed Donald Trump in the race for the White House after repeatedly describing him as unfit for the office during their bitter Republican nomination fight earlier this year.
Haley’s support is the latest sign that traditional conservative Republicans are falling in line with Trump’s candidacy after failing to stop his ascent to the party’s nomination to challenge President Joe Biden.
“Trump has not been perfect on . . . policies. I’ve made that clear many, many times,” Haley said. “But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump”.
Haley’s backing comes despite Trump’s vitriolic and humiliating attacks on her throughout the campaign, including his use of “Birdbrain” as a derogatory nickname.
Haley’s announcement — made during an appearance at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think-tank in Washington — could help Trump heal some of the divisions within the Republican party ahead of the nominating convention in Wisconsin in July.
Even after Haley dropped out of the race in March, she continued to win significant chunks of the Republican vote in primary contests from moderate centre-right voters who were rejecting Trump’s bid for a second term.
Nonetheless, Haley cast her decision as halfhearted support for Trump — and more a reflection of her distaste for Biden, the incumbent Democrat.
Haley’s policy differences with Trump spanned a range of domestic and international issues in which she represented a more traditional brand of domestic conservatism and hawkishness on foreign affairs compared with her rival’s populism.
During the heat of the primary contests in January and February, Haley, a former US ambassador to the UN, mainly attacked Trump for fuelling “chaos” and for what she described as declining mental fitness.
On Wednesday, Haley said Trump should not take the backing of her voters for granted.
“Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me, and not assume that they’re just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that,” Haley said.
Trump recently ruled out tapping Haley to be his vice-presidential candidate, though her declaration may help generate some goodwill for her among the Republican base and position her for a new run for the White House in 2028.
Haley’s announcement may raise questions about whether Biden has done enough to earn the backing of moderate Republicans who do not want to see another Trump presidency.
Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said Haley’s move did not change anything for “millions of Republican voters” who rejected Trump in the primary race.
They “care deeply about the future of our democracy, standing strong with our allies against foreign adversaries, and working across the aisle to get things done for the American people — while also rejecting the chaos, division and violence that Donald Trump embodies”, Tyler said.
Biden shared their “values”, he added.
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