There were thousands of them on Sunday, despite the heatwave, who came to Las Vegas to cheer the man they want more than anything to see return to the White House: Donald Trump, whose recent criminal conviction in New York does not doesn’t weigh much here.
• Read also: IN PICTURES | United States: thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators against Biden
• Read also: Once a “disgrace,” could Donald Trump be back in the good graces of several billionaires?
• Read also: Georgia state justice suspends criminal proceedings against Trump
“I don’t care much about what happened at the trial, it doesn’t change anything, I will vote for him,” Lindsay Elliott, who came with her family to Sunset Park in the world’s gaming capital, told AFP. southwest United States.
The mother even thinks that the fact that the Republican was convicted in a case of payments to a pornographic film star will “help” him in his campaign.
“Americans have had enough and they are angry,” she said.
Donald Trump spoke for a good hour for his first major meeting since the shock verdict in New York on May 30, because Nevada is one of the key states that he will have to win to defeat Joe Biden and win the presidential election on November 5.
A return match which promises to be close.
“We are going to bring down the Biden family,” launched the former Republican president (2017-2021) who never recognized the victory in November 2020 of Democrat Joe Biden, 81, whom he still mocked, treated as a “incompetent” and “worst president in the history of our country”.
The billionaire, who turns 78 on June 14, can count on a base of loyal supporters, as illustrated by the line that stretched for miles along Sunset Park to attend his meeting. Despite the 34°C it was on Sunday morning.
Lindsay’s daughter, Mackenzie, will vote for the first time in this election. She says she is “excited” to be there and convinced that Donald Trump emerges stronger from his trial.
“I think it will encourage more voters to go to the polls,” she predicts.
In the gathered crowd, many wear the traditional red of the Republican Party or the colors of the American flag.
Given the crowds, some people convince themselves that they have no chance of entering the meeting grounds. They therefore leave the queue, but remain in the surrounding park to listen to the broadcast on their phone.
This is the case for Anne, who came with a friend. “There are a lot of people, it’s positive,” says the woman, who says she is “surprised” by the crowd. She saw Donald Trump for the first time in person during his inauguration speech as president in Washington in 2017.
Among these activists, the recent guilty verdict rendered against the ex-president is a powerful symbol of the drift of the United States.
“It breaks our hearts to see America going in this direction,” says Shay Chan, 25, at his first Trump campaign meeting. “And it hurts not only Trump, but all Americans. If it can happen to Trump, it can happen to anyone.”
Other spectators immediately put their hands in their pockets and responded to their mentor’s call. “I gave money to his campaign as soon as they gave the verdict,” says Beth Mathews, 72. Karen Hall, a woman from Chile, regrets not being able to vote because she is not a U.S. citizen.
But she considers it important to be present this Sunday. “It makes me very sad that they are looking for any excuse to put him in prison and blame him for something wrong,” said this woman for whom uncontrolled immigration, according to her, was a determining factor in her support.
“I don’t like the chaos that reigns. I am an immigrant and I had to wait years to get my visa and arrive legally, and it bothers me that so many immigrants arrive illegally and pass as if nothing happened, it bothers me a lot, it’s because That’s why I support President Trump.”
Among the star products of the day, a t-shirt is snapped up, which displays: “I vote for the delinquent”.
So if Donald Trump is not re-elected on November 5, the person himself warned his supporters at the end of his speech: “We will be heading towards World War III.”
