Dawn Christmore, left, Diana Li, both of San Diego, Calif., keep cool in front of a mister as they wait in line for a Donald Trump campaign rally at Sunset Park Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Published Sunday, June 9, 2024 | 2:27 p.m.
Updated Sunday, June 9, 2024 | 7:29 p.m.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump started lining up at Sunset Park in Las Vegas at 9 a.m. today, three hours before Trump would take the stage in a rally touting his presidential campaign.
The scene was familiar to other rallies with loyalists sporting “Make America Great Again” hats and some carrying signs promoting GOP conspiracy theories about past elections.
This rally, though, had one noticeable difference: The heat.
Trump elected to have supporters spend hours in triple-digit Las Vegas heat, where showing their loyalty to his reelection campaign meant plenty of water, seeking shade, and jockeying for a spot under misting devices. Six were transported to area hospitals for heat-related illnesses, Clark County said.
Trump spoke for about one hour, mostly making claims about President Joe Biden’s tenure in office, such as criticizing his handling of the southern border and saying Nevada is becoming a “dumping ground” because of Biden’s immigration policies.
They’ll face each other in a presidential election rematch in November.
“In three and a half years, the people of Nevada have had a front row seat to Joe Biden’s evil and criminal obliteration of our Southern border,” Trump said. “What he signed means nothing, in fact it makes it easier, in my opinion it opens the border even further.”
This was his first rally here since winning the state’s presidential preference primary in February — and the first since he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York by a state jury. Trump dismissed the conviction during his speech as a political tool against him.
Nevada, one of six battleground states that will likely decide the election, is dependent on tourism. Trump attempted to appeal to service industry workers by saying he’d advocate for their tips not being taxed.
“It’s been a point of contention for years and years and years,” Trump said. “You do a great job of service, you take care of people, I think it’s going to be something that’s deserved.”
Trump’s claim to tip earners wasn’t well received by the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226. The union is a powerful force in Nevada elections because of its work mobilizing voters in support of Democratic candidates.
“For decades, the Culinary Union has fought for tipped workers’ rights and against unfair taxation,” said Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer in a statement. “Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon.”
Trump continuously called Biden incompetent and evil, language he said he wouldn’t have used if he had not been indicted. The felony convictions Trump received were from a state case in New York, not a federal court, but Trump nonetheless said the Department of Justice had been “weaponized” against him.
“When he indicted me over nothing, they opened up a whole new box, and then I got indicted again and again and again,” Trump said.
The former president was in Arizona last week, another battleground state, where 11 people were hospitalized from heat exhaustion during the event. At least two calls for medics was made just past 8:30 a.m. Sunday while supporters waited in line for the event in Nevada to open.
Cloud cover later in the day lowered temperatures as the event started, but several ambulances and medical personnel were on standby in anticipation of the high temperature.
The heat nor the felonies dissuaded Trump’s coalition, as hundreds gathered for the Sunday event. Trump’s proponents have seemingly rallied even stronger to the former president since his conviction.
Jesus Marquez, conservative consultant and former commissioner of Trump’s White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, said Trump’s convictions resonated favorably among Latino voters, who have seen “political persecution” in Central and South American countries.
“My parents, for example, they saw political persecution in countries like Mexico, Central America, South America, and when they come here and they see, they relate to that, what they’re doing to President Donald Trump,” Marquez said.
Also among the speakers at the event were Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia and Michael McDonald, the Nevada GOP Chairman who said he and others were in Nevada to “worship” Trump.
McDonald’s loyalty to Trump includes participating in a fake elector scheme with hopes of overturning Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The coordinated effort with Republicans in six other swing states has led to multiple legal charges.
“We will walk through hell to put Donald J. Trump back in the White House, and take back America,” McDonald said.
Steve Grammas, a Metro Police officer and president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, announced the association’s endorsement for Trump during the event. Grammas cited the former president’s visit to Metro headquarters in the wake of the Oct. 1 shooting as a key moment of his support of police.
Trump reiterated his support for those arrested during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S Capitol, calling them “hostages” and applauded their behavior, implying Capitol Police set up the rioters by opening doors into the building.
“There has never been people treated more horrifically than J6 hostages,” Trump said. “They were warriors, but really more than anything else they were victims.”
Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown is interviewed during a Donald Trump campaign rally at Sunset Park Sunday, June 9, 2024.
Trump endorses Sam Brown in U.S. Senate race
Sam Brown’s Senate campaign in Nevada was finally endorsed by Trump late Sunday in a social media post.
He nearly backed Brown earlier in the day, saying during the rally that Nevada “has a good man named Brown” but not mentioning the primary race against Jeff Gunter and others.
The Republican winner would advance to face incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., in November.
A poll conducted in late April with 1,000 would-be Nevada voters found Rosen held a sizable lead over her potential Republican challengers.
She led Brown 45% to 37%, with 18% undecided, according to the survey by Emerson College Polling/The Hill. In a hypothetical race against Gunter, Rosen led 47% to 33%, with 20% undecided, the poll found.
“Sam Brown finally got the Trump stamp of approval that he was so desperately seeking and has been publicly begging for over the last six months,” said Nevada Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, chairwoman of the Nevada State Democratic Party in a statement.
“This endorsement makes clear that Brown will always put partisan politics and his far-right MAGA agenda of banning abortion even in cases of rape or incest, phasing out Social Security and Medicare, and turning Nevada into a nuclear waste dump ahead of doing what’s right for Nevada.”