Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is holding an outdoor rally Sunday at Sunset Park in Las Vegas, where the forecast is for 100 degrees at noon when the former president is scheduled to go on stage. It's Trump's first Nevada rally since his conviction on 34 felony charges last month, coming at the end of a three-day fundraising push that included stops in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, where he raised millions of dollars from technology executives and other donors.
After rally, Trump endorses Sam Brown for U.S. Senate
Hours after the Las Vegas rally, Donald Trump posted an endorsem*nt for U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown on his social media site, Truth Social.
"Sam Brown is a FEARLESS AMERICAN PATRIOT, a Purple Heart Recipient, who has proven he has the "PURE GRIT" and COURAGE to take on our Enemies, both Foreign and Domestic," Trump wrote.
"Sam Brown has my Complete and Total Endorsem*nt - HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN," he wrote.
Brown responded to the endorsem*nt in a news release Sunday night:
"I am honored to have President Trump’s endorsem*nt of our grassroots Duty First movement for U.S. Senate. Together, we will work towards delivering a better future for every Nevadan!
"I look forward to helping President Trump pass the America First agenda in the U.S. Senate after we both win in November. Our message to every American is clear: relief from the Biden-Rosen American Nightmare will soon be here and the hope of the American Dream will be restored!"
Brown is facing 11 other Republicans in the primary. The winner will face presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Jacky Rosen in November in an election that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.
Brown is considered the favorite, and has received an endorsem*nt from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Gov. Joe Lombardo.
But his opponent, former Trump ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter, shared internal polling last week showing him neck and neck with Brown, each with about 30% support from participants in the Kaplan Strategies poll. It also showed 21% of voters still undecided in the survey of about 800 Nevada Republican voters conducted May 30.
Early voting ended Friday, and nearly 68,000 Republicans have already cast ballots. The primary is Tuesday, June 11.
According to the Cook Political Report, only three Senate races are considered toss-ups: Nevada, Montana and Ohio.
In Montana, Trump endorsed Tim Sheehy, who won that state’s Republican primary. In Ohio, Trump backed Bernie Moreno, who won Ohio’s primary.
Trump appeals to service workers with pledge to make tips tax-free
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumptold a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday that he would seek to end taxation of income from tips, a direct appeal to service workers in the swing state of Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The pledge, revealed at a sweltering outdoor rally in Las Vegas, adds one more detail to a Trump tax plan that has included vague pledges of tax relief to middle-income workers and small businesses.
"So this is the first time I've said this, and for those hotel workers and people that get tips you're going to be very happy because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips people (are) making," Trump told a crowd of several thousand people.
Trump said he would "do that right away, first thing in office," and noted in prepared remarks that he would seek legislation in Congress to make the change. "You do a great job of service, you take care of people and I think it's going to be something that really is deserved."
Trump has previously pledged to make permanent the Republican-passed individual tax cuts that he signed into law in 2017 but which expire at the end of 2025. Tax experts estimate that doing so would raise U.S. deficits by some $4 trillion over a decade compared to current forecasts.
As current law requires, tipped employees must report their tips as income. Eliminating this would add further to deficits without new revenues elsewhere.
Trump's Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, has pledged to maintain Trump's tax cuts for households earning under $400,000 a year, but wants to substantially raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on large corporations.
-- Nathan Layne/Reuters
Trump floats plan to make tips nontaxable
Former president Donald Trump has finished speaking at his Las Vegas rally, where he did not endorse a Nevada U.S. Senate candidate during the hour-long speech.
The teleprompter went out, leaving Trump to freestyle it with familiar stump-speech talking points. One new bit was promoting a plan to make tips tax-free, an idea sure to resonate in the service-industry-dependent city.
Problems with the teleprompter provided Trump an opening to needle President Biden about some of his gaffes using a teleprompter and pretend to be a doddering old man wandering around the stage.Trump said he would not pay the teleprompter company, and that the media would take his comment out of context to criticize him for not paying people.“I don’t pay contractors who do s----- work," he said.
Trump has taken the stage at Las Vegas rally
Donald Trump has begun addressing the crowd at his rally.
This story will be updated.
Trump campaign mixes up musical playlist with 'Imagine,' 'Illegal Alien'
The musical soundtrack at Trump's Las Vegas rally has some interesting new selections that differed from previous Nevada events.
The Trump rally staple by the Village People had the crowd making spelling out "YMCA" with their arms, and a live version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" was a natural.
But another song played on the big screens was "Illegal Alien" by '80s pop band Genesis. This may have seemed to some like an odd choice because of its sympathetic chorus, "It's no fun being an illegal alien," with images of Hispanic people in a barrio.
The song was followed was John Lennon's "Imagine," with its lyrics about imaging a world with no religion and no national borders.
U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown, still seeking endorsem*nt, attends Trump rally
Army veteran and U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown was among the crowd as Sunday's rally.
"I'm just here to serve, whether it's to be a U.S. senator or hand out water," he said.
Unlike in the two other states where the Senate seat is considered a toss-up, the former president has not weighed in on Nevada’s race.
Twelve Republicans are competing to face Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in November in an election that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.
At a January rally in Las Vegas, Trump name-checked three of the candidates — Brown, former ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter and former Nevada Assemblyman Jim Marchant.
GOP political consultant: Latinos in Nevada favor Trump
At 11:30, a half-hour before the former president is scheduled to go on stage, hundreds of people are still waiting to get into the rally at Sunset Park in Las Vegas.
One rally-goer, Jesus Marquez, a Las Vegas political consultant, pointed out that 20% of Nevadans are Latino and he thinks their increasing support for Trump will help the former president win Nevada for the first time.
"They see that life has gotten more expensive since Trump left office," he said. "They see the chaos at the border with hundreds of thousands of people crossing."
Even though many of the border crossers are Latino, he said, that doesn't sit well with the Latinos already here legally.
"They see the new people coming in and getting social service and moving to the front of the line and they don't like any of that," Marquez said. "Latinos are supporting Trump, and you see it in the polls."
A poll conducted April 28-May 9 by the New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer showed Hispanic voters in Nevada favor Trump by 9 percentage points, and Trump holds a 6-point lead among “other” racial or ethnic minorities.
Asked about President Joe Biden's recent executive order to stem the flow of migrants at the border, he said, "Why did Biden all of a sudden start coming up with an executive order to fix a problem that he caused, which is open border polices? It's just too close to the election."
Marjorie Taylor Greene takes the stage at Trump rally
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a brief appearance at the Trump rally Sunday, downplaying the former president's legal woes.
"The person I worship was a convicted felon and he was crucified on a Roman cross," Greene said.
Her appearance was interrupted frequently with chants of "Bull----" as she described President Joe Biden's policies.
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald followed Greene, saying, "We are here today to worship this man."
McDonald is one of six Nevada "fake electors" charged with submitting certificates to Congress falsely claiming Trump won the 2020 election against Joe Biden. He has pleaded not guilty.
His comments were interrupted by chants of "USA."
Before Greene spoke, a handful of naturalized citizens from Central American countries including Guatemala and Honduras spoke of their support for Trump.
Asian-Americans benefit under Trump administration, supporter at rally says
Julie Hereford said she first started supporting Trump in 2016, and she’s advocating for him again while also seeking signatures to get a voter ID initiative on Nevada’s November ballot.
“Prosperity is the biggest thing for Asians,” she said. “Everything Trump does – education, energy – is good not just for Asian-Americans but all of us.”
Hereford bases her optimism about Trump on the record he established in office.
“We’re very luck to have had him for four years,” she said. “Right now, the country is not going to survive with the Biden administration’s policies.”
First medical event at Trump's Las Vegas rally
About 8:45 a.m. Saturday at former President Donald Trump’s Sunset Park outdoor rally in Las Vegas, a secret service agent ran toward the security line shouting “Medic.”
It was the first call for medical help on a day that could see many of them. According to the National Weather Service, it was 86 degrees but temperatures are expected to top 100 degrees with no shade for attendees.
A person was wheeled to a closed, air-conditioned tent just off the open field where the rally is being staged.
At Friday's event in Phoenix, 11 people were taken to area hospitals from heat-related incidents, authorities said. That event was held indoors but people waited in line outside for hours.
Gates opened at 9 a.m. at Sunday’s event.
Trump’s campaign prepared for the heat with the following steps:
- Water bottles will be available to attendees both inside the event and in line.
- Plastic water bottles and small umbrellas will be permitted to enter the event through security.
- Limited tent space with shade and air conditioning will be available on a first come first served basis.
- Misting and cooling stations will be available both inside the event and in line.
- Ample medical staff will be present at the event in case of emergencies.
Nevada among swing states getting major ad push by Trump backers
A major spending group backing Republican Donald Trump brought in nearly $70 million in donations last month and plans to spend $100 million in advertising over the summer across U.S. election battleground states, according to a memo sent to donors and seen by Reuters.
The June 4 memo, written by MAGA Inc. CEO Taylor Budowich, detailed the super PAC's plans in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona - all states Trump lost in 2020 to U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but where some polls show Trump leading before the Nov. 5 election.
A Fox News survey conducted after the guilty verdict in the hush-money trial showed Trump ahead of Biden in Nevada by five percentage points, an advantage roughly in line with an average of polls over time compiled by poll tracking website FiveThirtyEight.
-- Reuters
