Trump holds massive rally in Nevada; the governor calls him "selfish"

 

For the first time in three months, President Donald Trump held a massive political rally in an enclosed area on Sunday in which he defied Nevada regulations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and the serious warnings of Governor Steve Sisolak.

Thousands of people flocked to see the US president campaigning in the southwest of the country. The local governor considered that this gathering was “irresponsible”. And to emphasize: "It seems that the president has forgotten that his country is still in the middle of a global pandemic".

The meeting scheduled for Sunday in the city of Henderson, Nevada, drew the wrath of local authorities who reported that events involving more than 50 people were not allowed because of the coronavirus.

"The city of Henderson sent a formal letter and a verbal warning to the organizers of the event explained that the event, as it was scheduled, directly violating the emergency guidelines related Covid-19 governor City spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said in a statement.

Donald Trump called Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, an “amateur in politics” and urged the crowd to “tell (his) governor to open (their) state."

The pandemic deprived the US presidential campaign of its usual flood of meetings but with less than two months of the poll, Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, have accelerated the pace of their appearances.

Donald Trump's campaign team said that temperature measurements would be taken at the entrance to the meeting and that masks would be given to participants, encouraged to wear them.

"If you can join tens of thousands of people demonstrating in the streets, gambling in a casino or burning small businesses in riots, you can assemble peacefully under the 1st Amendment to listen to the President of the United States," he said.

In June, Donald Trump had already been heavily criticized after holding an indoor meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, later suspected of having been at the origin of a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Most of the participants did not follow the distancing instructions and refused to wear masks. Coronavirus cases in Tulsa had greatly increased in the weeks following this Tulsa meeting, local health authorities specifying that it was "more than likely" that large gatherings contributed to it.

A crowd of supporters came to the place, without respecting social distancing throughout the event and many of them without wearing masks.

The campaign event was carried out in violation of the rule that restricts gatherings of 50 people or more in Nevada, what the Democratic governor classified as "shameful, dangerous and irresponsible" actions by Trump.

The governor of Nevada said Trump's event was an insult to Nevadans and a direct threat to the progress that has been made in spreading the pandemic in the state.

"Trump has decided that he does not have to abide by the laws of our state. As usual, he does not believe that the rules apply to him. He came to our state and blatantly discarded the emergency regulations and difficult decisions made to fight this pandemic." Sisolak questioned.

Trump's visit to Nevada showed that he is serious about that state where no Republican has won a presidential election since 2004, and where Biden maintains an advantage of about 6 percentage points over the president.