RNC 2024 Day 2 updates: Trump rivals take center stage along with divine intervention

The theme of Tuesday's session is "Make America Safe Again."

ByMeredith Deliso, Ivan Pereira, Tal Axelrod, Chris Boccia, and Alexandra Hutzler
Last Updated: July 16, 2024, 11:35 PM EDT

The second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee ended Tuesday with appearances from some of former President Donald Trump's former rivals: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy -- all calling for Republican Party unity.

They were joined by some of Trump's longest allies including Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Ben Carson in bashing the Democrats over what they claimed were harmful and failed policies.

The program focused on law and order with a theme of making the country "safe again."

Trump, with a bandage on his ear, made an appearance again Tuesday evening -- just days after he was wounded in an assassination attempt at one of his rallies in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Several speakers touched on that God spared Trump in the shooting, saving him for a divine plan for the presidency.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing:
Jul 16, 2024, 11:35 AM EDT

Trump elevates an ally in JD Vance and sets the course of the GOP's future: ANALYSIS

Former President Donald Trump pick of Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice president is helping set the course of the Republican Party's future.

With the selection of Vance as his running mate, it give the first-term senator a massive platform to help steer the party at the end of a hypothetical Trump term in 2029 -- and even a leg up if he were to then seek the top job himself.

"Trump wants to make sure MAGA outlives him," said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor, referencing the "Make America Great Again" mantra that the former president popularized. "I think that was a big part of the choice."

Read more of the analysis here.

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod

Jul 16, 2024, 10:13 AM EDT

Liz Cheney blasts Trump's pick of JD Vance as VP

Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump's most vocal critics, is blasting his selection of J.D. Vance as his pick for vice president in a post on X -- slamming his stance on the 2020 election and contrasting it with that of Trump's former running mate Mike Pence.

She said with Vance on the ticket, the Republican Party is no longer one of "Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution."

"JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t - overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution," Cheney wrote.

Her post quoted a earlier post she wrote in February in which she claimed "Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve."

"Yesterday, @JDVance1 claimed that Trump could defy rulings of the Supreme Court as President. Vance also admitted he would have done what VP Pence refused to do on January 6th—help Trump illegally seize power. That’s tyranny. Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.," Cheney wrote then.

-ABC's Isabella Murray

Jul 16, 2024, 10:10 AM EDT

Nikki Haley among tonight's featured speakers as GOP stresses 'unity'

Following a memorable day with former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, the convention is off to a rolling start.
Tuesday’s theme is "Make America Safe Again" and speakers will focus on crime, fentanyl, and illegal immigration.

As the Trump campaign tries to capitalize on Trump's new message of "unity," Nikki Haley, Trump’s former bitter primary rival, will speak. Originally, Haley was not offered a slot, but was added the day after the attempted assassination> of Trump Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

--ABC's Kelsey Walsh

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