Trump touts ‘strong’ border policy, ridicules Dems
LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump pressed his tough anti-illegal immigration stance before West Coast supporters Saturday, saying “we have to be very strong” as he sought to help boost the candidacy of a one-time critic.
Trump was in Las Vegas to assist Dean Heller, the only Republican U.S. senator seeking re-election in a state that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Trump and Heller have papered over their once prickly relationship to present a united front in their shared goal of helping Republicans maintain, if not expand, their 51-49 majority in the Senate in November’s congressional elections.
In remarks to several President Donald Trump addresses the Nevada GOP Convention on Saturday at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. hundred often-cheering attendees at the Nevada GOP Convention, Trump portrayed himself as the toughest against illegal immigration, saying at one point, “I think I got elected largely because we are strong on the border.”
But he excluded any mention of the fact that a massive public outcry forced him to reverse course this week and end the practice of separating children from families after they illegally cross the southern border.
“On immigration, we have to be very strong,” Trump said, blaming Democrats for causing the problem. “The fact is we need more Republicans because the Democrats are obstructionists.”
Trump said Republicans are for “strong borders, no crime” and called it a winning issue. He alleged that Democrats are for “open borders and MS-13 all over our country,” referring to the violent street gang.
Trump praised Heller for voting to cut taxes, and said U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen, Heller’s Democratic opponent, would vote to raise them. The president noted Rosen was in Reno with Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the state Democratic Party convention. He again referred to Warren as “Pocahontas” to ridicule her claims of Native American ancestry.
“Wacky Jacky is campaigning with Pocahontas,” Trump said. “When you see that, that’s not the senator you want.”
Rosen responded in a statement: “The president is attacking me with lies and petty insults because I’m not afraid to stand up to him. Dean Heller has been a rubber stamp for Donald Trump in Washington, caving to the president’s divisive agenda at Nevada’s expense.”
Outside the convention, at least 300 people protested Trump’s policy of separating families. They were stretched along a sidewalk outside the casino-hotel where the president met behind closed doors with supporters before addressing the convention. Trump also held a separate event promoting his tax cuts.
Trump was accompanied by former top campaign aide Corey Lewandowski, now acting as an outside adviser. Days earlier, Lewandowski responded with “Wah-wah” during a Fox News Channel appearance after another panelist raised the case of a 10-year-old disabled girl who had been separated from her parents.
Convention-goers lined up to have photos taken with Lewandowski.