Republican convention speakers ramp up anti-Democratic rhetoric despite campaign promise of unity

Other speakers repeatedly slammed Joe Biden, seeking to portray his time in government as a threat to the American way of life. They also heaped praise on Trump, often referring to him as a friend and telling anecdotes of their interactions with him.

Meanwhile, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis took the stage, making the case for Trump to their primary voters in a move that finally pulled the entire party publicly together behind Trump and ended any lingering divisions with his former arch-rivals for the party nomination.

DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, who has generally been supportive of Trump since abandoning his White House bid in January, opened by slamming Biden and suggesting the president lacks the cognitive ability to lead.

The speeches come after Republicans opened their nominating convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on a high-energy note. Trump began the convention on Monday with the announcement that JD Vance, the Ohio senator, would serve as his running mate, ending months of heated speculation over who would join the former president at the top of the ticket.

Trump has previously called for the deportation of 15 million to 20 million undocumented immigrants if he wins re-election, and Vance voiced his own support for mass deportation in an interview with Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, on Monday.

Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, doubled down on the nativist rhetoric, invoking a series of anecdotal examples of women killed by undocumented immigrants.

While Republicans rally, Biden and his Democratic allies are resuming some campaign communications after suspending their planned anti-Trump ads in response to the assassination attempt. At a press conference in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Biden campaign officials said that the assassination attempt against Trump would not change their messaging strategy.

As of now, it seems like Biden still needs to sell more voters on that message. National polls show a neck-and-neck race, and Biden appears to be in trouble in several states he won in 2020. In a more worrisome sign for Biden, 19 congressional Democrats have called on him to drop out of the race following his disastrous debate performance last month.