'I will vote for Trump', rival Haley's announcement recomposes Republicans

Nikki Haley will also vote for Donald Trump in next November's presidential election. This was announced by the Republican herself - the last challenger among conservatives to surrender to Trump's overwhelming power - on Wednesday night in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington.

In recent months Trump had nicknamed her birdbrain and had repeatedly attacked her family and gone so far as to threaten those who supported her. In rallies at the beginning of the year, Haley - on the strength of an astonishing fundraising and Wall Street support - had said she considered Trump 'unqualified' to be president, not least because of his 'advanced age', 77. And she had criticised Trump's American isolationism - "it risks leading our country into new wars" - arguing instead for stronger ties with allies in Nato, against Russia, alongside Israel, and also Taiwan, to contain China.

Despite the insults and obvious differences, Haley nevertheless announced her support for the former president: 'Biden was a catastrophe. So I'm voting for Trump,' she said in her first public speech since dropping out of the White House race in March. With the choice of Haley, the entire GOP - the conservative Grand Old Party, in part impatient with Trump, as the contrasts in Congress also testify - has ended up recomposing itself right around the tycoon, putting aside doubts and betting on the base of the national-populist right to win: 'We will have to turn up our noses, close our eyes and listen very patiently to the campaign, but we have no alternative,' commented a seasoned Republican senator.

The polling average defined by RealClearPolitics indicates that the head-to-head between Trump and Joe Biden, the incumbent president and Democratic candidate, will be decided by a few thousand ballots in a handful of states. Therefore, the moderate votes Haley can bring - particularly in the female electorate and among college graduates - could prove decisive.

Haley's announcement, moreover, also stems, at least in part, from a political calculation: the 52-year-old former US ambassador to the UN, by avoiding any rift and instead declaring her support for Trump, can aspire to have a chance in four years with the support of the entire party. 'Having made it clear who my vote will go to,' Haley explained, 'I want to reiterate here what I said when I broke off my campaign: Trump would do well to consider and engage the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me. It is not a foregone conclusion that they will stand with him, but I sincerely hope he will engage and succeed in getting them on his side'. Haley, on the other hand, is unlikely to be nominated as vice-president: Trump clearly ruled this out a few days ago.