Trump tries to tamp down Republican dissent, lashes out at GOP Sen. Ben Sasse at Nevada rally
WASHINGTON – With just over two weeks left until Election Day, President Donald Trump rallied supporters at a Nevada campaign stop by warning of what he called a "socialist" Democratic agenda, but he also had a message for Republicans: Stick together.
At a Carson City, Nevada, airport rally, Trump mocked Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., one of several Republicans who have criticized the president publicly in recent days.
Trump was responding to a barrage of criticisms unleashed by Sasse last week during a conference call with constituents.
Under Trump's leadership, Sasse said, the "United States now regularly sells out our allies."
"The way he treats women and spends like a drunken sailor. ... His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. He's flirted with white supremacists," he added.
In Carson City, Trump hurled the nickname "Little Ben Sasse" at the GOP senator.
"The Republicans have to stick together, Ben," he said.
But Sasse isn't the only Senate Republican who has taken Trump to task in recent days.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, facing a tough reelection battle himself, told a Texas newspaper that he has disagreed, privately, with Trump on issues like spending, trade, the COVID-19 response, and the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Speaking with the editorial board of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Cornyn likened his relationship with Trump to a troubled marriage: “Maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has also sought distance from the president, and made clear his top priority in the election is preserving Republican control of the Senate.
In Nevada, Trump said "the Republicans have to learn – they got to stick together."
Trailing in a string of national and state polls, Trump on Sunday kicked off a week of campaign rallies – and a debate – by doubling down on his attacks on his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
"Joe Biden is from a failed and corrupt political class," Trump said.
Trump accused the Democrat of favoring a "socialist takeover" of the economy and questioned his opponent's mental acuity by saying "Biden is gonzo." He also claimed that Biden is working with son Hunter on business dealings in Ukraine and China, citing news reports based on questionable sources.
Biden and his supporters say Trump is simply lying because he is trailing badly in the election. They also said he doesn't want to talk about his failures with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent breakdown of the economy.
"Trump has failed America on the coronavirus and the economy, so he’s resorting to the tactics pioneered by dictators around the world," said Josh Schwerin of Priorities USA Action, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Schwerin said Trump is "trying to inflame the fringes of his base with hatred and fear."
More: Hunter Biden story by NY Post spurs FBI to look for possible disinformation campaign
Democratic aides cited a Trump attack that Biden would "listen to the scientists" about battle against COVID-19.
Trump discounted the advice of the scientific community, and "now new coronavirus cases are surging and layoffs are rising," said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates.
“If Donald Trump had listened to Joe Biden when he urged him not to trust the Chinese government over his own scientific advisers about this crisis, he wouldn't be the worst jobs president since 1929," Bates said.
Biden himself again cast the race as a "battle for the soul of the nation."
"The forces of darkness, the forces of division, the forces of yesterday are pulling us apart, holding us down, and holding us back," Biden tweeted. "We must free ourselves of all of them."
Following his Nevada speech, Trump has rallies this week in three swing states where he is seen as struggling: Arizona on Monday, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, and North Carolina on Wednesday.
The debate with Biden, the last one of the campaign, comes Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Little more than two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3, Biden has an 8.9 percentage point lead nationally over Trump, according to an average of recent polls by the Real Clear Politics website. Biden also leads in pivotal states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Nevada is one of the states Trump is trying to flip from Democratic to Republican. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton won Nevada and its six electoral votes by 2.4 percentage points.
Biden now has a 5.2 percentage point lead over Trump in Nevada, according to a Real Clear Politics average of statewide polls over the past month.
Trump's attacks in Carson City included claims that a Biden win would turn Carson City into a "ghost town," and that "the Christmas season will be canceled."
The Carson City rally, which lasted nearly 90 minutes, capped a campaign day for Trump that began with a church in Las Vegas and included a fundraiser in southern California.
In the morning, as Las Vegas churchgoers prayed for good political fortune, Trump was not shy when the collection bucket came around. He placed what witnesses called a handful of $20 bills into the bucket during a friendly service at the International Church of Las Vegas.
"The Lord said, 'he is ready for the next four years and he will have a second wind,'" preached church leader Denise Goulet.
In addition to the repeated attacks on Biden, Trump's Carson City rally featured standard riffs from his latest stump speech, including his recovery from COVID-19 ("do I look OK?") and a lengthy appeal to suburban women voters.
Citing efforts to cut federal regulations, Trump spent an extended amount of time discussing the end of rules that restricted the water pressure of showers, sinks, and toilets.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump at Nevada rally tries to quell GOP dissent, bashes Ben Sasse
