Donald Trump's supporters didn't even wait for security to engage with protesters at his Las Vegas rally on Saturday, instead taking matters into their own hands and pushing the rowdy attendees away from the venue.
The day after the former president was ordered to pay $83.8 million for defamation to E. Jean Carroll, he flew to Nevada for a rally just 8 miles from his gold hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
As a group of rally attendees became vocal — and appeared to be anti-Trump — a group of supporters pushed the American flag-bearing attendees out of the venue and shouted at them as the former president said, “No, they're actually friends,” enthused Friends.'
Trump's rally in Nevada came with back-to-back victories in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 and the New Hampshire caucuses on Jan. 23.
Donald Trump urged his supporters to skip the Nevada primary and simply attend the caucus because “your primary means nothing.”
Supporters of the former president helped clear protesters from the venue outside Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday afternoon
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff played a Democratic counterbill in Las Vegas on the same day Trump visited the state hosting the early primaries.
Next up is Nevada's presidential primary, but almost no candidates were campaigning in the state – even before all but three dropped out of the race – as confusion simmers over the dueling primaries and caucus contests.
“The message from our party’s voters is clear: It’s time to end this primary and start losing.” [Biden]” Trump said as he explained that there are two different primaries this year.
“And remember: We all call it a primary, but I like to call it a caucus because that’s what it is,” he said, emphasizing: “Your primary doesn’t matter — it’s your caucus vote.”
“Your state has both the primary and a caucus.” “Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing,” Trump instructed his voters. “And we will defeat Crooked Joe Biden.”
Nevada is historically the third primary state – but typically only caucuses are held, like in Iowa. This year, however, the state decided to hold a primary, while the Nevada Republican Party announced that it would hold caucuses and that all delegates would be allocated through that contest.
The primary election will take place on Tuesday, February 6th and the primary election will take place on Thursday, February 8th.
The ex-president railed against Nikki Haley – the last serious competitor against Trump in the presidential primaries
A sea of red hats as rally attendees listen to Donald Trump's speech at his rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, Saturday, January 27, 2024
The shakeup has caused great confusion and anger among Republicans.
A Trump supporter from Arizona who recently moved to a Vegas suburb told at Saturday's rally that the dueling primaries “make everything so confusing.”
Las Vegas native Billy, 62, said he didn't even know there were two contests before he showed up to the rally, and he doubts any of his friends and family are aware of what's going on this year goes.
Trump has registered for the caucuses – and is a candidate to win all the delegates, as his only competition is front-runner and Texas-based pastor and entrepreneur Ryan Binkley.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has only registered for the primary in Nevada, meaning she cannot pick up delegates in the state.
After her second-place finish in New Hampshire, Haley made it clear that her focus is now on her home state of South Carolina, where the fourth primary contest takes place on February 24th.
“She's still campaigning?” Trump said of Nikki Haley at his rally. “She just got endorsed by Liz Cheney, can you believe that?” If Liz Cheney ever endorsed me, I would say, “No, I don't want that.”
Disgraced former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney urged Haley to stay in the race.
Trump, Haley and Binkley are the three Republicans still running in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
As Trump headed to his rally in Nevada, E Jean Carroll, 80, burst into tears in court Friday and hugged her lawyers as she was awarded $83.3 million in her defamation trial against him.
The 80-year-old sued Trump over his defamatory statements in which he denigrated her and denied her rape allegations.
Trump left court on Friday around 4 p.m. and traveled to Las Vegas despite the impending decision.
Trump's rally came the day after he was sentenced to pay $83.8 million in the libel case of 80-year-old author E. Jean Carroll, who is seen leaving court in Manhattan on Friday