Trump to be greeted with 'crook' billboard in Las Vegas before first post-verdict rally
Former President Donald Trump will speak at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend, marking his first official rally since he was convicted of 34 felonies in New York. And the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is planning to greet Trump supporters with a new billboard reminding them of his criminal record.
The Guardian reported that the anti-Trump billboard is going up just in time for his Sunday rally in the Silver State's largest city. The billboard reads: “Trump was a disaster for Nevada’s economy. Now he’s back. A convicted white-collar crook. Coddling billionaires, leaving workers behind. DONALD TRUMP: UNFIT TO SERVE." The portion reading "convicted white-collar crook" is highlighted.
"As Donald Trump returns to Nevada this weekend for the first time as a convicted felon, voters will remember this crook left Nevada’s workers out to dry as president," DNC spokesperson Stephanie Justice said. "After promising to take care of Nevada’s middle class, he implemented a tax scam that made the ultra-wealthy and corporations wealthier off the backs of working families, repeatedly attacked unions and sat back as Nevada bled tens of thousands of jobs."
"Now he’s promising tax handouts to his billionaire donors instead of putting the interests of working Nevadans first," she added. "Nevada voters know that Trump is too corrupt and unfit to serve, and will reject him again in 2024."
The billboard going up in the must-win battleground signifies that Democrats are aiming to harp on the 45th president of the United States being found guilty by a jury of his peers in a unanimous verdict last Thursday. While some in the party have urged caution to seize on the verdict out of not wanting to play into Trump's baseless narrative that his prosecution was politically motivated, other Democrats want to make Trump being the first-ever former president to be convicted of crimes a central talking point ahead of the November election.
While the former president's base doesn't seem to have wavered in its support of their preferred candidate despite his felony convictions, it may cost him more moderate voters. That may prove decisive in hotly contested swing states like Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, where President Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020. The first post-verdict poll taken after the conclusion of Trump's criminal trial found that an increasing number of independents were more wary about supporting Trump than before.
In the last election, Biden won Nevada by earning approximately 37,000 more votes than Trump. Voter turnout in Clark County, which houses Las Vegas, proved to be the deciding factor, where Biden defeated Trump by more than 90,000 votes. Only Clark and Washoe County (which houses Reno) went for Biden, with the state's 13 other counties all breaking for Trump.
Polling numbers may get even dicier for Trump after his sentencing hearing, which will be on July 11 — just days before Trump is expected to be officially nominated by the GOP to be its chosen presidential candidate for November. Judge Juan Merchan could sentence the former president to as much as 20 years in prison.
Despite the 34 felony convictions, it's not likely that Trump will face significant prison time, if any. Those felonies are all class E offenses, which don't require jail time. Trump's status as a first-time offender who will be 78 years old by the time of his sentencing may work out in his favor, and Merchan may only sentence Trump to some combination of probation, home confinement and/or fines.
However, former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann believes prison may be in the cards for Trump. He said on MSNBC that Trump's 10 violations of Merchan's gag order, combined with his lack of respect toward the proceedings, could mean that Trump may see the inside of a jail cell this summer.
Click here to read the Guardian's report in full.