Former President Donald Trump likely made his last stop in Nevada before Election Day on Thursday afternoon, flaunting Republicans’ high early voting turnout, deriding Vice President Kamala Harris as “low IQ,” and bemoaning the state of the economy and a spike in unauthorized immigration.
“You wouldn’t put Kamala in charge of, literally, a kindergarten class,” Trump said near the end of his nearly 95-minute speech at the nearly full 5,600-seat Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson. The talk was inter-spliced with video clips and longer versions of his campaign ads.
“At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself, can you afford to put someone that’s grossly incompetent in charge of the future of our country? I don’t think so,” Trump said.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony and Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown served as warm-up acts for the audience and spoke ahead of Trump, who recognized their presence from the stage.
Trump acknowledged Brown several times. He was sitting in the audience alongside Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY).
Lombardo’s appearance is especially significant, marking his first on stage at a Trump rally this year, although he endorsed the candidate back in January. Lombardo previously expressed concern to The Nevada Independent’s CEO and Editor Jon Ralston about Trump’s legal trouble and has distanced himself from six state Republicans who falsely certified that Trump won in 2020.
In his speech, Lombardo reminded voters of the local stakes of the election and that Democrats are just one seat shy of a state Senate supermajority, which, if secured, could give them the ability to override his vetoes.
“If we are to bring President Trump back into office, it will have a direct effect on our senatorial position, congressional positions, and more importantly, on our Legislature,” Lombardo said, suggesting his picks for the Legislature could ride Trump’s coattails into office.
Trump acknowledged Lombardo’s presence at the outset of the speech but didn’t bring him on stage.
Gaetz contended that Trump would counter political corruption, by imposing congressional term limits and banning trading on individual stocks. The Florida Republican, however, has come under ethical scrutiny himself — he has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor and used illicit drugs.
Several times during the talk, Trump brought up a comment earlier this week from President Joe Biden that sparked immediate backlash from many who interpreted them as referring to Trump’s supporters as “garbage.”
“I think I’ve heard it more than any other word,” Trump said. “How stupid is a man to say that, right? How stupid is Kamala to say that?”
Trump also appeared angered by comments from retired Marine general John Kelly, his longest-serving chief of staff, who said in an interview for CNN reporter Jim Sciutto’s book, The Return of Great Powers, that Trump praised aspects of Hitler’s leadership.
“He said, ‘Well, but Hitler did some good things,’” Kelly recalled. “I said, ‘Well, what?’ And he said, ‘Well, (Hitler) rebuilt the economy.’ But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world.”
Kelly admonished Trump: “I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.’”
Trump, invoking his late father, fired back.
“My father was a great guy. He was a strong guy, but a good guy with a big heart,” Trump said. “He told me once … never use the name Nazi. You don’t use that name. You understand me? And never use the name Hitler. I’m now being accused of being Hitler by these lunatics out there that have lost control of our country.”
Here are The Nevada Independent’s main takeaways:
Enthusiasm for early voting
Trump once again touted Republicans’ unprecedented turnout lead in early voting in Nevada. As of Thursday afternoon, the GOP has a substantial 42,000-ballot lead, just under 5 percent.
“We’ve been setting records in early voting, but we can’t let up,” Trump said on the Nevada totals, reminding those in attendance that the last day to early vote is Friday.
He also nodded to making changes to the election system, such as imposing voter ID laws, and claimed that CBS News and other major media companies like NBC engaged in election interference, asserting that they should lose their licenses and be “locked up.”
“We’re gonna see it all changed,” he said.
Trump also implored those who had yet to vote to do so on Tuesday.
“With your help, we’re going to win Nevada. We’re going to defeat Kamala,” he said.
Immigration
At the beginning of the rally, Trump played a clip featuring the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was found dead in the Houston area in June. Two undocumented Venezuelan immigrants are suspected of the crime.
“For thousands of people around our country, this is a constant,” Trump said.
Although there are no national statistics, research shows that undocumented people do not commit crimes at higher rates than American citizens and there were some 21,000 homicides recorded in 2020.
Once again, Trump reiterated his plans to launch a mass deportation campaign if elected and promised to impose the death penalty on immigrants who kill U.S. citizens or law enforcement officers. Later on in the rally, he brought onstage Gary Quets, the father of Arizona resident Nicholas Quets who was killed while driving in Mexico.
Gary Quets added that Mexicans who kill American citizens should be extradited to the U.S. to be prosecuted.
Toward the end of the speech, Trump again brought up illegal immigration, vowing to defend the border.
“We will stop illegal immigration, once and for all,” Trump said. “We will not be invaded, we will not be occupied, we will not be overrun, we will not be conquered.”
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2022 was still below the peak of 12.2 million in 2007.
Tax cuts
Trump flexed his plan to eliminate taxes on overtime, Social Security and tips — the latter of which he said was inspired by a waitress he met at his non-gaming Trump International Hotel near the Strip that owns in partnership with billionaire Phil Ruffin, owner of Circus Circus and Treasure Island.
He reiterated his plan, saying he would “massively cut taxes for workers and small businesses, and we’ll have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security benefits.”
Trump told the audience Harris would “launch a war on tip workers” by increasing the tip allocation tax by 60 percent.
Harris has her own plan for tip tax cuts — it would still exempt tips from federal income tax, but tipped earnings would still be subject to payroll taxes because funds go to Social Security and Medicare. Harris’s plan would also cap the amount of income workers could claim came from tips.
The Washington Post reported Harris’s advisers have discussed only exempting taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers who earn $75,000 per year or less.
