MILWAUKEE, July 17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Donald Trump returned to the Republican National Convention Tuesday for a night intended to unify the party, as his failed primary challengers displayed their fealty to the now official US presidential candidate.

Three former rivals took the stage during prime time to publicly throw their support behind the former president, including onetime UN ambassador Nikki Haley who told delegates that "a unified Republican Party is essential for saving" the nation.

Trump, again wearing a white bandage on his ear that was injured in Saturday's assassination attempt, waved, shook hands and said "thank you very much" as delegates burst into an ovation.

While he made no formal remarks, the 78-year-old backslapped and chatted with his new running mate J.D. Vance and others, pumping his fist and looking visibly more relaxed than during his emotional entrance the previous night.

The Republican leader has been widely feted at the four-day convention, where on Thursday he is set to formally accept his party's nomination as the flagbearer to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in November.

Tuesday was an exercise in presenting a unified front, but the smattering of boos that echoed with cheers across the convention floor when Haley took the stage -- with Trump looking on -- suggested the party had work to do to gather the base's four corners for the final four months of a bruising presidential campaign.

Haley had antagonized Trump during the primary battle but on Tuesday she was clear: "Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period."

- 'Unite this country' -

Her fellow former Trump challengers -- Florida governor Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy -- also kissed the ring, with the latter telling the 2,400 Republican delegates: "Donald Trump is the president who will actually unite this country -- not through empty words, but through action."

Haley, who this year said the United States can't "go through four more years of chaos" under Trump, had not been expected to appear.

But Saturday's shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally reshuffled the deck, and Haley joined the speaking schedule along with Ramaswamy and DeSantis.
"Take it from me: I haven't always agreed with president Trump," Haley said, "but we agree more often than we disagree."

Seeking to reassure voters that he remains robust despite the traumatic attack, Trump's team announced he and Vance will address a campaign rally on Saturday afternoon -- just one week on from the incident.

Trump received a rapt ovation on Monday evening when he appeared with a bandage on his right ear, signaling how close he came to losing his life when a lone shooter on a roof fired at him.

And amid calls to lower the temperature of America's heated political rhetoric, US House Speaker Mike Johnson told the convention Tuesday that "we're not just uniting as Republicans, we're uniting today as Americans in the wake of the assassination attempt on the life of president Trump."

Meanwhile, Biden called for a ban on the type of semi-automatic rifle that was used in the attempted assassination.

"An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump... It's time to outlaw them," the Democrat said during a campaign event in Las Vegas, adding: "Join me in getting these weapons of war off the streets of America."

- 'World's largest mosquito' -

Trump on Monday had solidified the Republican ticket by announcing Vance, a 39-year-old US senator from Ohio and a one-time harsh critic turned uncompromising supporter, as his running mate.

Vance, who says his modest Rust Belt upbringing makes him a voice for working-class voters in left-behind America, is set to address the convention Wednesday evening.

Trump has been seeking to corral additional support for his buoyant campaign, calling Robert F Kennedy Junior to see if the independent candidate would drop out and endorse the Republican.

On the call, leaked to social media Tuesday, Trump told Kennedy the graze on his ear from the shooting "felt like the world's largest mosquito."

Less than four months before election day some 50,000 Republicans have descended on the convention in Wisconsin, the state where the Republican Party was born 170 years ago.

While Trump is increasingly confident of a return to the White House -- despite multiple legal problems and two impeachments clouding his first term -- Biden is reeling from weak polls and Democratic concerns over his health.