内华达州明登-总统，开始西部摇摆唐纳德·特朗普周末，他飞奔到内华达州，试图扩大他的胜利之路，同时发表一连串未经证实的声明，声称民主党试图窃取选举。
特朗普藐视地方当局，在他最初在雷诺举行集会的计划因担心违反冠状病毒健康准则而被阻止后，周六晚上在狭小的明登举行了集会。特朗普发泄了90多分钟的不满和攻击，声称该州的民主党州长试图阻止他，并重复了他的错误说法，即邮寄选票会玷污选举结果。
“这就是我们委托给他的数百万张选票，不请自来的选票，我们应该赢得这些州。谁他妈的会相信他?”特朗普谈到州长史蒂夫·西索莱克。"民主党赢得选举的唯一方法是操纵选举。"
作为他正在进行的反对邮寄投票运动的一部分，总统连任竞选的律师们敦促拉斯维加斯的一名联邦法官阻止一项州法律，并阻止邮寄选票在选举前不到八周送达所有活跃的内华达州选民。
特朗普在笼罩在雾霭中的群山前对一群几乎没有戴口罩的人群发表讲话，雾霭是野火肆虐加州一个州时空气中的烟雾气味。总统向受害者表示哀悼，但宣布“我不必再友好了”，重点是抨击他的民主党对手乔·拜登。
特朗普声称，如果拜登获胜，民主党的竞选伙伴参议员卡马拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)将“在大约一个月后”成为总统，并声称前副总统只是一个傀儡，哈里斯将掌权。他声称，如果拜登能在三周内站在辩论舞台上，媒体会像对待温斯顿·丘吉尔一样对待他。特朗普开始了一场摇摆，其中也包括在拉斯维加斯和凤凰城的停留，他嘲笑拜登的旅行计划较慢。“你知道他现在在哪里吗?他又在他该死的地下室里了!”
此外，特朗普在很大程度上援引了他2016年的对手希拉里·克林顿的话，带领人群发起了传统的“把她锁起来!”吟诵。总统声称，他通常会试图停止圣歌，但周六宣布，“我不在乎你是否再说一遍”，并打破了办公室的另一个规范，建议克林顿“应该进监狱”。
特朗普还为他对这场流行病的处理进行了激烈的辩护。这场流行病已造成19万多名美国人死亡，每天仍有近1000人丧生。他指责全国各地的民主党州长，包括西索莱克，故意放慢重新开放他们州的速度，以损害他的选举机会。
州共和党人声称西索拉克试图阻止集会，但取消雷诺活动的决定是由机场官员做出的。自5月份以来，西索拉克已将室内和室外的面对面聚会限制在50人以内，这是基于白宫重新开放指导方针的建议。
特朗普竞选团队私下对这场斗争表示欢迎，认为它突显了一个连任主题:特朗普坚持认为，美国已经扭转了疫情，而包括拜登和州长在内的民主党人正在通过严格的限制损害国家的经济和精神。特朗普的团队喜欢这种政治斗争，这突显出内华达州在特朗普争取270张选举人票的过程中日益重要，因为一些关键州的竞选看起来很紧张。
数千人覆盖了明登的停机坪，包括来自内华达州斯帕克斯的64岁的汤姆·伦茨，他说上次他没有投票给特朗普。
“但这次我会的。我想他知道自己在做什么，”楞次说。“他支持信仰，支持生活，他给世界带来了更多的和平。拜登连话都不会说。”
特朗普在2016年以微弱优势将内华达州输给了克林顿，该州在过去十年中进一步倾向于民主党。但特朗普的竞选团队对该州进行了大量投资，依靠其地面游戏来吸引选民。相比之下，民主党人在大流行期间主要依靠虚拟竞选活动，除了赌场工人烹饪工会，该工会挨家挨户地派遣工人。
白宫周六宣布，特朗普在西部期间，还将于周一访问加州，听取关于该地区毁灭性野火蔓延的简报。他对火灾基本上保持沉默，俄勒冈的应急管理主任说这是一个可能的“集体死亡事件”。
一些民主党人担心特朗普可能在内华达州获得势头，总统显示出越来越多的拉丁裔和非大学教育白人选民的支持，这是该州的两个重要选区。
一些竞争最激烈的州的竞争加剧，包括总统团队对亚利桑那州的日益担忧，导致特朗普重新努力扩大他的选举地图。曾经在特朗普的专栏中被认为相当安全的亚利桑那州已经受到冠状病毒的破坏，特朗普团队越来越担心该州老年居民的支持率下降。
如果亚利桑那州溜走，特朗普的竞选官员私下承认，这将使他获得270张选举人票的道路复杂化。如果他失去亚利桑那州，赢得威斯康星州——特朗普最有可能保留的中西部州——即使他保留佛罗里达州和北卡罗来纳州也是不够的。这需要他在其他地方获胜，这导致人们重新关注明尼苏达州、新罕布什尔州以及内布拉斯加州和缅因州的普通国会选区。
内华达州已经成为一个特别的焦点，希望在农村地区产生大量人口，包括人口3000的明登。
特朗普周日在拉斯维加斯举办了两场募捐活动。共和党全国委员会表示，预计将筹集1800万美元，由特朗普的竞选团队、该委员会和几个州共和党委员会分享。特朗普和共和党人在8月份筹集了2.1亿美元，这是一个稳健的数字，但远远低于拜登和他的政党在那个月创下的3.645亿美元的纪录。
Trump pushes into Nevada, questions integrity of election
MINDEN, Nev. -- Kicking off a Western swing, PresidentDonald Trumpbarreled into Nevada for the weekend, looking to expand his path to victory while unleashing a torrent of unsubstantiated claims that Democrats were trying to steal theelection.
Trump defied local authorities by holding a Saturday night rally in tiny Minden after his initial plan to hold one in Reno was stopped out of concern it would have violated coronavirus health guidelines. Unleashing 90-plus minutes of grievances and attacks, Trump claimed the state’s Democratic governor tried to block him and repeated his false claim that mail-in ballots would taint theelectionresult.
“This is the guy we are entrusting with millions of ballots, unsolicited ballots, and we’re supposed to win these states. Who the hell is going to trust him?” Trump said of Gov. Steve Sisolak. “The only way the Democrats can win the election is if they rig it.”
As part of his ongoing crusade against mail-in voting, lawyers for the president’s reelection campaign are urging a federal judge in Las Vegas to block a state law and prevent mail-in ballots from going to all active Nevada voters less than eight weeks before the election.
Addressing a mostly mask-less crowd tightly packed together, Trump spoke in front of mountains draped in haze, the scent of smoke in the air from wildfires raging a state away in California. The president expressed his condolences to the victims but, declaring that “I don’t have to be nice anymore,” focused on tearing into his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
Trump claimed that the Democrat’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would be president “in about a month” if Biden won, asserting that the former vice president would be but a figurehead and that Harris would hold power. He claimed that the media would treat Biden “like Winston Churchill” if he was able to merely stand on the debate stage in three weeks. And embarking on a swing that would also include stops in Las Vegas and Phoenix, Trump mocked Biden’s slower travel schedule. “You know where he is now? He is in his damn basement again!”
And, for good measure, Trump invoked his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, leading the crowd to launch into its traditional “Lock Her Up!” chant. The president claimed he usually tried to stop the chant but on Saturday declared, “I don’t care if you say it anymore” and, breaking yet another norm of the office, suggested that Clinton “should be in jail.”
Trump also offered a fierce defense of his handling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 190,000 Americans and still claims nearly 1,000 lives a day. And he blamed Democratic governors across the nation, including Sisolak, for deliberately slowing the pace of reopening their states to hurt his election chances.
State Republicans claimed Sisolak tried to stop the rally, but the decision to cancel the Reno event was made by airport officials. Sisolak has limited in-person gatherings indoors and outdoors to 50 people since May, a recommendation based on White House reopening guidelines.
Privately, the Trump campaign welcomed the fight, believing it highlighted a reelection theme: Trump’s insistence that the nation has turned the corner on the pandemic, while Democrats, including Biden and governors, are hurting the nation’s economy and psyche with stringent restrictions. It’s the kind of political fight that Trump’s team relishes and underscores the growing importance of Nevada in Trump’s quest for 270 electoral votes as the race looks tight in a number of pivotal states.
Several thousand people covered the tarmac in Minden, including Tom Lenz, 64, of Sparks, Nevada, who said he didn’t vote for Trump last time.
“But I will this time. I think he knows what he’s doing,” said Lenz. “He’s pro-faith, pro-life, he’s made more peace in the world. Biden can’t even talk.”
Trump narrowly lost Nevada in 2016 to Clinton, and the state has trended further toward the Democrats in the past decade. But Trump’s campaign has invested heavily in the state, relying on its ground game to turn out voters. Democrats, by contrast, have largely relied on virtual campaign efforts during the pandemic, save for the casino workers’ Culinary Union, which has sent workers door to door.
The White House announced Saturday that, while out west, Trump will also visit California on Monday to receive a briefing on the devastating wildfires racing through the region. He has largely been silent on the blazes, which Oregon’s emergency management director said was a possible “mass fatality event.”
Some Democrats fear a possible Trump momentum gain in Nevada, with the president showing increasing support from Latinos and non-college education white voters, two important constituencies in the state.
The tightening race in a number of the most contested states, including increasing concern on the president's team about Arizona, has led to a renewed effort for Trump to expand his electoral map. Once considered fairly safely in Trump’s column, Arizona has been ravaged by the coronavirus and the Trump team has grown worried about a slip in support among the state’s older residents.
If Arizona slips away, Trump campaign officials privately acknowledge that it would complicate his path to 270 electoral votes. If he loses Arizona, winning Wisconsin — the most likely Midwest state for Trump to retain — would not be enough even if he keeps Florida and North Carolina. It would require him to win somewhere else, which has led to a renewed focus on Minnesota, New Hampshire and the at-large congressional districts in Nebraska and Maine.
And Nevada has become a particular focus, with hopes of turning out huge numbers in rural areas, including Minden, population 3,000.
Trump was hosting two fundraisers in Las Vegas on Sunday. The Republican National Committee said it expected to raise $18 million, which would be shared by Trump’s campaign, the committee and several state GOP committees. Trump and Republicans raised $210 million in August, a robust sum but far behind the record $364.5 million taken in by Biden and his party that month.
