Donald Trump in Las Vegas
Donald Trump in Las Vegas on Sept. 13, 2024
LAS VEGAS – Former President Donald Trump rolled out promise after promise in an 80-minute speech to a crowd of about 6,000 Friday in Las Vegas, bouncing from topic to topic and from jokes to apocalyptic predictions.
It was his first trip to Nevada since a high-profile debate with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week that even many supporters said could’ve gone better for him.
For much of this year, polls showed Trump with a solid lead in Nevada but that has evaporated, with Harris and Trump now tied based on multiple surveys of registered voters. A win in November would be Trump’s first victory in Nevada, which went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.
The fact that Nevada is back in play for Democrats may have inspired Trump’s enticements aimed at Silver State residents.
Adding to his previous proposal to end taxes on tips – a fan favorite in Nevada, the state with the most tipped workers – he also vowed to end taxes on Social Security benefits and overtime pay.
And in a new plan unveiled for the first time Friday, Trump promised to make housing more affordable in Nevada by working with Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to allow tracts of federal land to be zoned for large-scale housing construction.
“Gov. Lombardo has sent three letters to the Biden-Harris administration asking them to open up some of this land to help alleviate the crisis — but Kamala and Crooked Joe did not even have the decency to reply,” he said.
“Under the Trump administration, the pleas of Nevada will be ignored no longer.”
A communist for president?
Much of the night’s comments were aimed at making fun of his opponents.
As in past rallies, Trump held an impromptu poll based on the volume of cheers about whether Sleepy Joe or Crooked Joe was a better nickname for the president.
But insults were aimed at Harris, who he said can’t speak clearly and – falsely – wants to take children from parents to give them transgender surgery.
Trump called her “Kambabla” and “Comrade Kamala,” making an aside that he thinks few people call the vice president “Harris” because it’s an unmemorable last name.
“She’s a Marxist, communist, fascist person,” he said. “Who the hell ever thought we’d be voting for a communist for president?”
He called out “Roll the tape!” to introduce video clips played on large screens around the convention hall showing Harris giving different opinions on fracking, guns and Medicare. He did not mention his own prominent flip-flops on abortion, guns, Social Security and TikTok.
Trump said this week’s debate with Harris had been rigged because moderators fact-checked his claims but none of Harris’.
He got a laugh when he joked that moderator David Muir’s “hair was much better five years ago.”
Savior for America?
Trump also portrayed America as a country in decline, overrun by violent immigrants entering the country illegally. He’s long made this claim, as when first announcing his presidential run almost a decade ago, only now instead claiming the rapists and murderers are from Mexico, he mentions Venezuela.
Many supporters at the rally view Trump as a savior.
“He’s the only one that can save this country from all the disaster and chaos we’ve got going on,” said Nada Gillette, who took a half-day off work to attend the rally at The Expo in World Market Center.
“He’s my president, and he will be my president again.”
Yasuyo Urabe came to the United States in July with her conservative Christian church group in Fukuoka, Japan, to support Trump. Her message is that Trump is the candidate who can best stop communism.
“We support Trump because we have been fighting against communism a long time and we want to stop the invasion of communism,” she said.
“We go around the United States to the rallies of Trump,” she said. “So far, we’ve been to Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.”
Trump invoked the prospect of World War III and the end of the nation if he’s not elected in November.
“If we’re not able to turn this country around, it’s going to be Venezuela,” he said. “So get everyone you know to vote. We want a landslide.”
Democratic response to Trump’s rally
A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee in Nevada said Trump just wants to pad the pockets of his billionaire friends.
“Nevadans know that if Trump gets another term, he’ll rig the economy for the ultra-wealthy again at their expense,” said DNC spokesperson Stephanie Justice in a statement.
“Nevada voters are ready to send Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz to the White House – the only candidates in this race who are fighting to bolster the middle class, lower costs, and put workers first. Regardless of what lies Donald Trump spews tonight, workers across Nevada will reject him for a third time in November because they deserve real leaders in the White House who will prioritize them every day.”
Mark Robison is the state politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, with occasional forays into other topics. Email comments to [email protected] or comment on Mark’s Greater Reno Facebook page.
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Publish date : 2024-09-13 13:00:00
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