Trump in Vegas to boost campaign for Dean Heller, says senator was 'shaky' but now is 'rock solid'

Donald Trump acknowledged Saturday that Sen. Dean Heller, who stopped just short of renouncing Trump during the 2016 campaign, was “a little bit shaky at the beginning,” but “once we got in there he’s been rock solid and he’s been great.”

The comments came during a speech at the Nevada Republican Party Convention in Las Vegas, the president’s third trip to the state since being elected in 2016. Trump is in town for a whirlwind trio of events aimed at boosting the Heller’s reelection bid and the campaigns of other Nevada Republicans on the 2018 ballot, including House hopeful Danny Tarkanian and aspiring governor candidate Adam Laxalt.

“He cut your taxes and nobody fought harder to cut taxes than Dean Heller,” Trump told an audience at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino, where he also unveiled a nickname for Heller’s Democratic opponent Jacky Rosen — “Wacky Jacky” — and claimed a vote for her was a vote to raise taxes.

Trump’s visit and participation in a fundraiser marks a culmination for Heller, a one-time staunch Trump critic who in 2015 donated a contribution from the future president to charity and said he was “99 percent” opposed to his candidacy following the publication of sexually inappropriate remarks made by Trump in 2005 on the set of Access Hollywood.

Heller, who revealed nine months after the general election that he voted for Trump, has slowly aligned himself with the president on numerous issues over the past 20 months, especially on the issue of Republican-led efforts to reform the tax code last year. On Saturday, the two hugged on the tarmac and on stage at the convention, and Trump promised that “I will be back a lot” ahead of November to help him and others on the ticket.

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/trump-in-vegas-to-boost-dean-hellers-bid-for-re-election

The kiss of death