Former President Donald J. Trump hinted at the possibility of welcoming Nikki Haley into his inner circle on Thursday, signaling a potential reconciliation between the two former adversaries.
“Well, I think she’s going be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” Mr. Trump told News 12, the New York area cable outlet, following Ms. Haley’s announcement that she would support him in the upcoming election.
This statement from Ms. Haley, who was once his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, marked a significant step towards reconciliation between the two.
During an interview after his rally in the Bronx the previous day, Mr. Trump even praised Ms. Haley, referring to her as “a very capable person.”
Throughout the contentious G.O.P. primary race, which concluded in March with Ms. Haley dropping out, both Mr. Trump and Ms. Haley engaged in frequent exchanges of criticism.
Mr. Trump often disparaged Ms. Haley as a “birdbrain” and implied that her husband, a National Guardsman, deployed to avoid her.
In response, Ms. Haley pushed back against Mr. Trump, referring to him as “unhinged” in late January.
Until recently, the likelihood of reconciliation between the two seemed uncertain, with Mr. Trump dismissing reports of considering Ms. Haley as his running mate.
In his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Mr. Trump has brought on board several former G.O.P. rivals, including Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Mr. Trump’s adoption of the “team of rivals” approach, famously utilized by Abraham Lincoln, demonstrates his recognition of Ms. Haley’s potential contributions to his campaign in terms of both finances and votes.
Despite exiting the G.O.P. primary race over two months ago, Ms. Haley has continued to garner significant voter support in subsequent primaries, eroding crucial backing that Mr. Trump will need in a close election against President Biden. In Wisconsin, she received over 75,000 votes (almost 13 percent of the total ballots) in the recent Republican primary.
Furthermore, Ms. Haley’s connections to donors are noteworthy. In April, she was appointed as the chairwoman of the Walter P. Stern at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank with a strong base of high-profile donors.
Jazmine Ulloa contributed to this report.
