The Republican National Convention's theme for night two was "Make America Safe Again," focusing on the allegedly connected threats of illegal immigration and crime. But many of the speeches—particularly by a bevy of Republican Senate candidates in swing states such as Arizona, Nevada, West Virginia, and Montana—deviated significantly, instead focusing on a wide range of political issues. On the economy, on foreign policy, on cultural values, and everything else, President Joe Biden is the problem, and the only solution is former President Donald Trump.
Indeed, the real theme of the night was the surrender and subjugation of Trump's main rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination: former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. This was their opportunity to bend the knee and pledge fealty to Trump.
While DeSantis had formally endorsed Trump after dropping out of the race in January, Haley had not yet committed herself to supporting Trump. In her speech Tuesday night, she made clear that she was giving Trump her "strong endorsement."
"For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump," she said.
Haley focused on foreign policy, articulating the hawkish views she is known for. She said that only Trump could be trusted to keep Russia at bay—a notion that puts her somewhat at odds with Trump's vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, who opposes indefinite military aid to Ukraine. When Haley spoke, one could hear echoes of a pre-Trump version of the Republican Party; when DeSantis spoke—primarily on new culture issues, anti-wokeness, and COVID-19 tyranny—one could imagine what a post-Trump GOP might look like.
But the stark reality is that Trump will remain the gravitational center of the Republican Party and the conservative movement until he willingly exits the political arena, or dies. Haley, Vance, DeSantis, Marco Rubio, and even Vivek Ramaswamy—who remained steadfastly in support of Trump even when he was technically running against him—all represent somewhat different ideological tendencies on the right, from neoconservatism to populism to the new right. Libertarianism is sadly underrepresented among the GOP's current crop of thought leaders, but it hardly matters.
That's because policy is decidedly taking a back seat to personality. Trump is the man of the moment, and the ideology of the GOP will be whatever he says it is. Bend the knee.
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