Ivanka Trump pitches economy in Las Vegas campaign stop

Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s elder daughter and senior adviser, made an economy-focused campaign pitch to a small group of local Republicans during a brief Monday campaign stop in Las Vegas.

Trump joined on stage by former White House deputy press secretary and current campaign press secretary Hogan Gidley, who led the question-and-answer session.

At one point, Gidley asked Trump about record-low unemployment for minorities and women during her father’s presidency before the COVID-19 pandemic and whether his business background played a role.

“His experience as an employer of many very successful businesses is critical,” she said. “He understands the needs of a modern workforce and barriers to entrepreneurship and innovation that have long existed in this country.”

Trump said her father has cut 22 regulations for each new one added during his tenure, created 500,000 manufacturing jobs before the pandemic and secured a pledge from 400 companies to retrain their existing workforces rather than outsourcing.

She said her father has “kept more promises than he’s made,” meaning he made the sweeping economic changes he promised on the 2016 campaign trail while also brokering peace in the Middle East and enacting criminal justice reforms “because it was the right thing to do.”

Asked about the administration’s response to COVID-19, Trump echoed other campaign fixtures in praising her father’s decision to limit travel from China.

She said her father mobilized the government to triage the pandemic while also kick-starting the development of therapeutics and vaccines, and she claimed “not one American who needed a ventilator didn’t get one.”

Trump encouraged the crowd to vote and stay excited in its support for the president, because “we need him to ensure that the great American comeback happens.”

Trump and Gidley spoke for about 45 minutes to the assembled crowd of about 70 people at Legends Ranch. Masks were enforced, though the speakers took theirs off during the program. The audience did not maintain social distancing at the outdoor event.

Among the Republicans in attendance were Nevada State Republican Party Chair Michael McDonald, Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore and 3rd Congressional District Republican nominee Dan Rodimer.

Although President Trump recently tested positive for the coronavirus, his campaign has insisted Ivanka Trump has consistently tested negative.

The Nevada State Democratic Party accused Trump of “painting a rosy picture far removed from reality” as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country because of her father’s “ineffective pandemic response.”

“While Ivanka Trump claims that her father ‘served the people of Nevada,’ we know the only people in Nevada that Trump cares about are his billionaire friends like Phil Ruffin,” spokeswoman Madison Mundy said. “Trump and his inner circle are completely disconnected from the challenges working families are facing, and as president, Trump has left hardworking Nevadans behind.”

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.