Trump slams DeSantis, talks 2024 election at Las Vegas event

Former president and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters Saturday that Nevada is Republican and encouraged volunteers to knock on doors for him in 2024.

“This has been a hard state,” Trump said at Fervent Calvary Chapel, where he spoke to Republican volunteers and supporters. “I really believe it’s a Republican state.”

Trump visited Las Vegas to talk with volunteers and “lay the foundation” for the Republican grassroots movement. He is the second Republican presidential candidate to visit the Silver State in recent weeks, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attending the annual Basque Fry in June.

In 2020, Trump lost Nevada to President Joe Biden by about 30,000 votes, and he lost it to Hillary Clinton by about 27,000 votes in 2016. His fights to overturn the 2020 election results with unproven claims of election fraud have been unsuccessful.

But he thinks this time will be different. Trump said Saturday that if he gets “massive numbers of votes,” the Democrats’ cheating “can only go so far.” The former president said that he is leading in polls with young people and women and that his campaign events are bigger than his previous run for president.

A Public Opinion Strategies poll of 500 registered voters in Nevada conducted on July 5-6 showed, however, that if the election were held when the poll was taken, DeSantis would have slightly more support than Trump in a race against Biden.

Trump hit on several popular Republican issues, such as immigration, crime and the excessive pushing of electric vehicles. If elected, Trump said he will ban critical race theory and “transgender ideology,” and he will change voting procedures to include voter ID and switching to only paper ballots.

“If we don’t win this election, this upcoming 2024 election … it will be a country no more,” he said. “In the alternative, if we win, we will have, in my opinion, the greatest country.”

Trump also took swings at one of his Republican primary opponents, DeSantis, taking credit for endorsing DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign. Trump called him “highly overrated” and said DeSantis wants to cut Social Security.

He also criticized DeSantis for his support of storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Trump also supported the project, before reversing course in 2020.

‘How to get things done’

Trump also took time to introduce several Nevada Republicans at the event, such as Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid and Committeewoman Sigal Chattah, as well as Clark County Chairman Jesse Law, who is up for re-election on July 18. Jim Marchant, a candidate for Senate, was also in attendance.

Attendees of the event, some of whom waited for hours in the desert heat to get in, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Trump is the one who can save the country.

Trish LeBeau, a Las Vegas resident and member of the Battle Born Republican Women’s Club, was waiting in a folding chair at 11 a.m.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him,” she said.

LeBeau said Trump is the only candidate she is considering. She said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is part of the “deep state” and is not ready to be commander in chief.

“Donald Trump is a serious person,” LeBeau said. “He knows how to get things done.”

Ronald Watkins, a Las Vegas resident and member of the Fervent Calvary Chapel, said he does not know anything about the other candidates but believes Trump will bring “more freedom” to the country. If Trump wins, Watkins would like to see him fix education and restrict abortion nationwide.

Democrats rebut

Ahead of his speech, Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., slammed Trump on his record for Nevada.

“Nevadans have rejected him twice already, and I think they’ll reject him again with good reason,” Titus said.

She contrasted Trump with President Joe Biden, saying Trump wants to roll back regulations on the environment and cut social services for the middle class, while Biden is helping the economy and creating jobs.

Recently, civil rights groups have begun a campaign to bar Trump from the ballot in Nevada and other states by encouraging secretaries of state to enforce the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause in the 14th Amendment.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.