JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It is the second day of the Republican Convention in Milwaukee, and yesterday was a big first day. The Republican presidential ticket is now set. It is, of course, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, as you just heard. Trump made a surprise appearance at the convention toward the end of the night, and he had a bandage on his ear from the wound from the assassination attempt on his life Saturday night. Tonight, we will hear from a lot of Trump's former rivals. But right now, we're going to hear from NPR political reporter Elena Moore. She is in Milwaukee at the media filing center. Hey, there.
ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Elena, each day of this convention - it's got a theme. What's tonight's focus?
MOORE: Yeah, so the official theme for tonight is make America safe again. So expect to hear a lot about immigration, along with fears over crime and drug use. And former President Donald Trump often tells these stories with these graphic descriptions of violent incidents in cities, and he pins them often on Democrats. So these are all topics typically wrapped together in a ton of Republican messaging because it really fires up the Republican base.
SUMMERS: I covered a lot of these conventions, Elena, and...
MOORE: Yeah.
SUMMERS: ...I know that, typically, the second night is the time where you hear speeches from rising stars in the party. So tell us who's on deck tonight.
MOORE: Exactly. So one big name that we're going to hear from tonight is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Trump was considering him for his running mate. And, of course, we know Rubio also ran for president against Trump in 2016. They did, in fact, have beef, but now he's on the Trump train, you know?
And Rubio isn't actually - he's not the only former rival, now ally, on the lineup for tonight. We'll hear from former tech CEO Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. And those are all people who ran against Trump in the primary. So I actually - I talked to Iowa delegate and young organizer Joe Mitchell about this. He argues that Trump is really showcasing a new and united party after Saturday's assassination attempt.
JOE MITCHELL: You didn't have to have Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis speak at the convention. But after what happened on Saturday, the party, I think, is more united than ever before.
MOORE: And really, you know, Juana, I know you know this, but that's what party conventions...
SUMMERS: Right.
MOORE: ...Are all about - unity.
SUMMERS: You did mention Nikki Haley there. I want to talk about her for just a moment because I'm old enough to remember that, just a few months ago...
MOORE: (Laughter)
SUMMERS: ...It was not even clear if she would endorse former President Trump, and now she's speaking at the convention. What do you think this appearance shows us?
MOORE: Yeah, I mean, she wasn't originally slated to attend the convention. But after the shooting, NPR reported plans changed. Haley does hold some political weight in this party. She gained quite a bit of support from white, college-educated, Republican-leaning voters during the primary. And that was a group Trump has repeatedly struggled with.
So throughout the primary, my colleagues and I - we've talked to Haley voters who said they wouldn't vote for Trump if he was the nominee. But you know, kind of by showing up today, Haley is acknowledging that this is Trump's party.
SUMMERS: A lot of the people that we're talking about, Elena - they're much younger than Trump. Trump, of course, can only serve four more years if he is elected. Is there a sense that the folks that we're talking about - they're the next generation of the Republican Party?
MOORE: Yeah. And, you know, on those young voices, we also, of course, have to mention the VP pick, J.D. Vance. He's half Trump's age. He's a friend of Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump. And, you know, the former president, if he wins this fall, Vance would be the first millennial vice president. But, you know, to be clear, Vance is really not that ideologically different than Trump. He actually might - you know, he aligns more with the MAGA movement, and the difference is he is young.
SUMMERS: That's NPR's Elena Moore. Thank you.
MOORE: Thank you.
SUMMERS: And we also want to thank our partner, member station WUWM 89.7, Milwaukee's NPR, for sharing their space with us this week. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
