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Former President Donald J. Trump stood in blazing heat in a Las Vegas park on Sunday and directly appealed to working-class voters by promising to eliminate taxes on tips for hospitality workers.

But beyond that proposal, little at Mr. Trumps campaign rally suggested that his new status as a felon had changed his message. And when Mr. Trumps teleprompter apparently stopped working, his speech which his campaign advisers had billed as focused on issues of local concern to Nevada voters devolved into familiar stories and riffs.

I got no teleprompters, and I havent from the beginning, Mr. Trump said after speaking for roughly 15 minutes, though his speech included excerpts from prepared remarks that his campaign had provided to reporters. That probably means well make a better speech now.

Mr. Trump repeatedly voiced his frustration with the lack of a teleprompter, even though he has often boasted of his ability to give long speeches without one.

His remarks, which lasted roughly an hour, felt unfocused as he cycled through well-worn territory, railing against electric vehicles, immigration, the four criminal cases brought against him and President Bidens physical and mental condition.

Once again, Mr. Trump broadly depicted migrants crossing the border illegally as violent criminals or mentally ill people, and then recited The Snake, a standby poem he has used since 2016 to expound on the threat that he believes undocumented immigrants pose to the country.

He continued to revive his unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election. And he baselessly insisted Democrats would try to cheat in November, sowing doubt about the general election months before a single vote has been cast.

Dont let them cheat, he told the crowd in Nevada. You watch that vote and watch it all the way.

Mr. Trump again praised the mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, calling them J6 warriors, suggesting they had legitimate reasons to try to stop Congress from certifying the presidential election and saying that they had somehow been set up that day.

They were warriors, but theyre really, more than anything else, theyre victims of what happened, Mr. Trump said. All they were doing were protesting a rigged election.

Mr. Trump said next to nothing about his recent conviction on 34 felony charges in Manhattan, but he lamented the four times he was indicted last year as a disgrace. Still, a number of people at the rally wore shirts reading Im voting for the convicted felon.

Much as he did at a town-hall-style forum last week in Phoenix, Mr. Trump spoke at length about immigration, saying that Mr. Bidens border policies constituted an all-out war on Black and Hispanic Americans.

Mr. Trump again criticized Mr. Bidens recent executive order meant to deter illegal crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico, calling it weak, ineffective and garbage, though he used an expletive.

In response, the crowd began chanting the expletive, as his supporters did in Arizona when he used the same description. This word seems to be catching on a little bit, Mr. Trump said approvingly. (When Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, spoke before Mr. Trump took the stage, her remarks prompted three identical chants.)

At the rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, the Trump campaign formally announced its Latino outreach effort, known as Latino Americans for Trump, and a number of Hispanic Americans spoke before Mr. Trump did.

Nevada has a large Hispanic population, and polls show that Mr. Trumps support among the states working-class and Latino voters is increasing. His campaign is trying to capitalize on dissatisfaction among those groups with Mr. Bidens handling of the economy.

Linda Fornos, a Las Vegas resident who came to the United States from Nicaragua, said that she voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 but that she was disappointed with his administration. For many years, I believed in the promises of the Democrats for more opportunities for the Latino community, she said.

Mr. Trumps pledge to eliminate taxes on tips for restaurant and hospitality workers was a direct appeal to that group, a significant force in the Las Vegas area. When I get into office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips, he said.

After the rally, the Culinary Workers Union, a key part of the Democratic coalition in the state, attacked Mr. Trumps proposal as hollow.

Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon, Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of the union, which has 60,000 members, said in a statement.

Mr. Trumps rally in Nevada, a key battleground state, concluded a multiple-day Western swing that started on Thursday with a forum in Phoenix hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action.

As record-high temperatures hit Phoenix, at least 11 people at that indoor event were taken to the hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion. The Trump campaign took steps to avoid similar issues in Las Vegas, where the heat was less severe but where the rally was held outside. At least six people on Sunday were taken from the event to the hospital, according to the Clark County Fire Department.

After his speech in Phoenix, Mr. Trump attended three fund-raisers in California and one in Las Vegas. Chris LaCivita, one of Mr. Trumps two campaign managers, said that the campaign had raised about $27.5 million across the four events, a figure that cannot be independently verified until campaign filings are made public in the coming months.

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2024 Election Updates: Latest Biden and Trump News - The New York Times

Former President Donald J. Trump, who was convicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, is expected to have a virtual interview with a New York City Probation Department official on Monday, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

The interview is required as the agency prepares a sentencing recommendation for the judge in the case.

Mr. Trump will be in his home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., for the virtual meeting his first with a probation official since he became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.

A jury in Manhattan found him guilty on May 30 in a hush-money case stemming from a payment that Mr. Trumps then-fixer, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006. The payment came in the final days of Mr. Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, and the creation of 34 false business records to cover up Mr. Trumps reimbursement of Mr. Cohen came in early 2017, after he was elected.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, has returned to Florida since the verdict. One of his lawyers, Todd Blanche, will be present for the interview, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.

It is unusual for a lawyer to be present for a Probation Department interview, according to current and former agency officials and several defense lawyers with experience dealing with the agency. And since the coronavirus pandemic has waned, virtual interviews have become far less common.

But Justice Juan M. Merchan, who presided over the former presidents criminal trial and will hand down his sentence, signed off on the arrangement, the person with knowledge of the meeting said.

The timing of the interview was first reported by NBC News.

Mr. Trump is expected to be sentenced on July 11 and could receive a punishment ranging from probation to up to four years in prison. He is appealing the verdict.

President Trump and his legal team are already taking necessary steps to challenge and defeat the lawless Manhattan D.A. case, Steven Cheung, Mr. Trumps campaign spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday.

In New York State, after a person is convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor, a probation officer must prepare a pre-sentence report, which the judge uses to help determine the defendants punishment.

In some instances, the defendant can also be interviewed by a social worker or psychologist working for the Probation Department. Such reports also include a defendants criminal history, if he or she has one, and the probation officer often interviews the arresting officer in the case and the defendants family members and friends. Pre-sentence reports also offer a defendants lawyer an opportunity to make positive statements about the defendant.

As part of the preparation of the report, the official is likely to ask Mr. Trump about what occurred that led to the charges against him.

Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.

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Trump Will Have Virtual Interview With Probation Official on Monday - The New York Times

A jury of my peers agrees that the pizza served in our 1980s grade school was better than any other. When I made my case Exhibit A was a shared photo of those cheesy, rectangular pieces fresh from an industrial oven my hometown classmates lit up at the memory. Pizza Day fueled an underground economy. Lunchroom hustlers charged sugar cookies, ice cream or chocolate milk in exchange for their slices. Or they might cut a deal for the candy and gum that other child entrepreneurs sold between classes. In this heyday, the schools halls featured a bustling economy and the worlds best pizza.

New York wouldve been proud. The Big Apple was an inspiration for our schools hustling brokers. For Gen X kids in the American South, the citys flashy lifestyle embodied success, from its playboy millionaires in Trump Tower to the hip-hop stars of the outer boroughs turning their music into a multibillion-dollar industry. Its icons swaggered like invincibles, seeming to get away with it all, which made an impression on the schoolyard moguls whose business was literally under the table.

Donald Trumps best-selling book of the day, The Art of the Deal, put a finger on this bad-boy glamour. Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all, the ghostwritten maxim went. Controversy, in short, sells. Thats certainly how things worked at school. Whenever a student was reprimanded for trading pizza, everyone knew whom to ask next time. I learned my preferred candy guy trafficked in Atomic FireBalls only when he got busted at school for selling them. I was soon in trouble for buying them, caught red-handed my fingertips and tongue stained scarlet by the food coloring.

It appears to work in politics, too, at least for Trump. He won the 2016 presidential election after saying and doing things that are usually fatal to ones political career, such as disparaging prisoners of war and boasting on tape about groping women. Even after minor things he once ate chain-restaurant pizza with a knife and fork in Times Square and on camera, an unpardonable offense in New York he was the talk of the town. Controversy not only sold; it elected.

But there should be a line. Chaos results when norms and rules no longer matter. Kids carrying backpacks full of candy and pockets full of money invite mischief. Shady business practices lead to conflicts and corruption. Some things should be disqualifying, if not in the eyes of the law, then in the choices of consumers. And voters.

For a jury of Trumps peers last week, he crossed that line. But will getting caught and punished simply improve his political fortunes? Or will he get away with it, becoming president again? Trump paid no political penalty for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, despite being impeached (for a second time). A third of Republicans in one survey said the felony convictions make them more likely to vote for him; guilt made no difference to an additional 56 percent. He is scheduled to be sentenced in July, and days later he is expected to be nominated for a third time at the top of the GOP ticket. Not only has bad publicity proved beneficial for him; Trump has made a political market in the art of getting caught.

Voters will soon have their say. Toxic partisan politics is making a nation complicit in the illicit, willing to excuse all kinds of bad behavior just so ones preferred candidate wins the election. Trumps easy victories in the primaries and his lead in some respected polls together suggest that many voters (and thus potentially our system of government) are okay with a twice-impeached former president, freshly convicted of felonies, returning to the White House.

My classmates and I enjoyed recalling the lunchtime trades that landed us more of the worlds best pizza. And how friendships with the cafeteria staff sometimes earned an extra helping on the house. We admired those among us with good business sense and extra money for candy. But the consensus held that bragging about ones success was bad form. And gloating about being untouchable was a bad omen. It was one thing to be a good dealmaker. It was quite another to make a sucker of someone. Penny-pinching adolescents recognize such distinctions, and a jury of New Yorkers did, too.

In 2016, Trump famously said, I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldnt lose any voters. He has proved that he could exploit the birtherism conspiracy that the first Black president was born in Kenya to become commander in chief. That he could suggest disinfectant and ultraviolet light might stanch a pandemic and pay no penalty. That he could get caught red-handed, evidence of shady business dealings on his fingertips, and still become the Republican Partys nearly decade-long standard-bearer.

Trump and the big city remain a world away from my school in the South. To us as kids, the rich and famous who seemed to have it all and got away with it were appealing characters. But now were grown up, with a deeper appreciation for the role that juries play in society. In this way, New York still inspires, even if its pizza is second-best.

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Opinion | Trump must face the consequences of outlaw behavior - The Washington Post - The Washington Post

Gianni Matteo was born and raised in a family of Democrats in South Philadelphia, but the 20-year-old is a big Trump fan.

The working class doesnt really care about which foreign enemy we should be fighting in countries most Americans cant even name, Matteo said outside of a newly opened office for former President Donald Trump in Holmesburg on Tuesday. They care about why I have to work two jobs this summer, why I have no money in my pocket to take my girlfriend on dates.

As the presidential campaign barrels toward November, several polls have shown the gap in support among young voters for Biden and Trump shrinking. President Joe Biden won 60% of voters aged 18-29 in 2020. Some national surveys now show an almost even split between Trump and Biden in that age group. That would be a historic realignment, which analysts who study the youth vote closely have cautioned could be the product of polling errors.

The biggest thing is, Trump is a rebel. Trump is almost punk in a way. Hes a rebel against the establishment an establishment that doesnt care about us.

But as both campaigns seek to attract young voters, young Trump supporters like Matteo, a rising college junior who is working at a wedding venue this summer, cite concerns about their economic future, specifically the housing market. And some see the former presidents brash, often incendiary personality as a positive.

The biggest thing is, Trump is a rebel, Matteo said. Trump is almost punk in a way. Hes a rebel against the establishment an establishment that doesnt care about us.

As Biden has lost some ground with progressive young voters frustrated with his policies on the war in Gaza, Trump has gained some support, particularly with non-college-educated men. His appeal is apparent even in some pockets of deeply Democratic Philadelphia, where being a young Trump supporter has historically been a lonely identity.

I think with young people theres a political realignment going on, said Joe Picozzi, 29, a Republican running for state senator in the Northeast. Ive talked to people who are like, I never really cared about politics and now Im getting fired up. I dont know anyone whos like, This is working. This is going great.

At a recent happy hour for the Philadelphia Young Republicans, about a dozen college-educated young professionals gathered at a beer garden near Rittenhouse Square. Most work as lawyers, bankers, or in other jobs that allow them to live in or around Center City. But the main topic was still the economy and how hard it feels even for relatively successful people to buy houses.

Theres sort of a lost generation here, said Matt Lamorgese, 31. We were promised all kinds of things by President Biden when he was running for election and what have we gotten? People are struggling to buy houses, get a mortgage for the amount they need, theyre not starting families, not saving for retirement and if they compare themselves to their parents, theyre behind.

Lamorgese, who chairs the group, said its been tough to grow ranks in a city where most young people are Democrats. But momentum has picked up ahead of November. Still, a series of GOP events over the last month, including the Trump campaign office opening, had mostly familiar faces and not many of them young.

Both campaigns are trying to make inroads with young Pennsylvania voters. About 50% of the countrys eligible 18-29-year-old voters cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election, which is a lower turnout than older voters but an 11-point increase from 2016.

Trump has made a splash at one-off events appearing at a sneaker convention in Philadelphia and an Ultimate Fighting Championship match. He also recently joined TikTok. Biden has deployed a host of resources to reach young voters and tried to emphasize work on student loan debt forgiveness and junk fees.

Sipping on IPAs at the happy hour, the group cited inflation, immigration, Bidens age, and the Democrats becoming so cringe, as reasons for sticking with Trump.

I think you just have to be non-apologetic, said Evan Bochetto, 35, who owns a media production company, and whose father, George, is a prominent GOP attorney in the city. If someone says, Oh, you must be a horrible person, youre voting for him. You say, No, Im not a horrible person. Thats my sacred right as a citizen. Now, lets discuss some issues. Do you feel safe walking down the street at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night? And a lot of the ladies say, no.

If someone says, Oh, you must be a horrible person, youre voting for him. You say, No, Im not a horrible person. Thats my sacred right as a citizen. Now, lets discuss some issues. Do you feel safe walking down the street at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night? And a lot of the ladies say, no.

Only two women were at the event theres a gender imbalance in big city young Republican clubs across the country, Lamorgese said. The group was also white though Trumps campaign is working to improve its support among Black voters.

Claire Goldstein, 35 who works with small businesses and lives in Washington Square, said shes voting for Trump because of all the nonsense surrounding the protests with Israel.

I think that there should be a much harder line with encampments, with people calling for the destruction of a country, people calling for the death of Jews, she said. So listen, Trump has a lot of flaws, but he is the counter to this absolute nonsense that is raging around our city.

The campaign launched Students for Biden-Harris earlier this year, a program focused on building a large volunteer base. The campaign has touted Bidens work protecting abortion access, something that has been particularly resonant with young women who helped him win in 2020. The administration has also committed unprecedented spending to address climate change and student loan forgiveness.

Trump has done little dedicated outreach to young voters specifically.

Young voters want a president who is fighting for them, not one who shows up to UFC fights while working to kick young people off their parents insurance, bragging about siding with the NRA to do nothing to reduce gun violence, and selling out our planet to oil and gas billionaires, said Sarafina Chitika, a Biden senior spokesperson.

Researchers who study the youth vote downplay some of the recent surveys showing the split among young voters. Voters under 30 are less aligned with either party but remain more progressive than voters overall, and polls show they tend to align more with Biden than Trump on issues.

A poll by the Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) this spring found Biden up 8 points on Trump with young voters and 19 points among likely young voters.

I dont see strong evidence that Trump is making significant inroads with the youth vote based upon this data, said John Della Volpe, the pollster at Harvard.

Polling has also shown more movement toward Biden among young undecided voters. That presents an opportunity for Bidens campaign to remind young voters, many of whom were in elementary school when Trump was president, about Trumps first term.

For an 18 or 19-year-old introduced to Trump when they were 8, 9 or 10, their reflection upon Charlottesville or the Muslim ban is gonna be much different, Della Volpe said. Its not necessarily that theyre agreeing with these values, they just have a different relationship and view him more as an antihero.

Young Republicans in Philadelphia say they feel some momentum among peers. On a recent weeknight, about a dozen volunteers in their 20s and early 30s came out to canvass for Picozzi, the young candidate in the Northeast.

The son of a firefighter and an occupational therapist, Picozzi is trying to win a longtime Democratic seat currently held by State Sen. Jimmy Dillon. Hes framed his campaign around a Northeast Philly version of the American dream, specifically appealing to young people starting families.

The Northeast Philly dream is to be able to own a house where kids can play outside, where you can afford to go to a few trips down the Shore, go to a few Eagles games a year, Picozzi said.

Picozzi supports Trump but doesnt lean too far into talking about his partys presidential nominee, who was convicted last month on 34 felony counts.

Several young supporters shrugged off Trumps conviction, dismissing it as politically motivated or acknowledging theyre used to the former president being a shocking political figure.

I dont think the felon thing will change much, said Shayne Gitteo, a 20-year-old college student who volunteered for Picozzi last week. His rhetoric already kind of pushes societal boundaries. He says what people dont want to hear. His expressions and reactions are so brutally honest. And I do think that attracts young people to him.

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Donald Trump is energizing some young Philly voters - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Stop me if youve heard this before: Donald Trump is unhappy about the outcome of a proceeding. So despite a complete lack of evidence, he spends months claiming a concerted conspiracy against him, masterminded by his nefarious political opponents. He says this many dozens of times, despite firm denials from key figures and even some Trump allies. And by the end of it, 4 in 10 Americans come to believe in the vast left-wing conspiracy.

It happened with the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. Its now apparently happened with the idea that President Biden was behind Trumps recent conviction in Manhattan.

A new CBS News/YouGov poll gets at a question Ive been hoping someone would ask for a while. It gauged just how many Americans buy into the still-baseless idea that Biden had something to do with the successful charges against Trump in Manhattan.

Turns out, its 43 percent and 80 percent of Republicans. Those are the percentages who agree that the charges were brought because of directions that came from the Biden administration, rather than merely by prosecutors in New York.

A clear majority of Americans, 57 percent, dont believe this. But the idea has taken hold in Trumps base.

To be clear, there is no real reason to believe this. The theory largely rests on the fact that former top Justice Department official Matthew Colangelo joined the investigation in 2022. But Colangelo had previously worked alongside Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) in the New York attorney generals office, where he had worked on Trump-related investigations before. Its about as circumstantial and speculative as you can get.

Attorney General Merrick Garland last week firmly denied, under oath, that he had sent Colangelo to Manhattan. He denied any contact with Colangelo since he joined the D.As office.

Beyond that, this theory was also firmly rejected in recent weeks by no less than former Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina, who worked on Trumps defense early in the Manhattan prosecution. He called the idea silly and ridiculous.

Joe Biden or anyone from his Justice Department has absolutely zero to do with the Manhattan district attorneys office, Tacopina said in an MSNBC interview, adding: We know thats not the case, and even Trumps lawyers know thats not the case.

People who say that, Tacopina told MSNBC, its scary that they really dont know the law or what theyre talking about.

By Tacopinas formulation, 4 in 10 Americans have no idea what theyre talking about.

Of course, it wouldnt be the first time Trumps base has come to believe something like this, despite the lack of evidence:

Voters often come to believe wacky things that excuse their allies and implicate their foes. But the degree to which these things have become articles of faith on the right literally bears no modern precedent.

And the similarities between the Biden-Manhattan theory and the stolen election fever go well beyond the surface level. As then, Republican lawmakers dont go as far as Trump in alleging an established conspiracy, but they do make a point to seed suspicion. Trump will say there are millions of fraudulent votes; they merely raise concerns about mail ballots and election procedures. He will say Biden was behind the Manhattan prosecution; they will merely raise questions about Colangelo.

Even at last weeks hearing with Garland, though, Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) briefly conceded that this was a mere theory.

You might not have had anything to do with that, Fry told Garland, but the perception is and the American people perceive that the Department of Justice is intimately engaged with this.

We now have a number we can attach to that perception: 43 percent. Its just that, as with so many of the above numbers, its largely based on one piece of highly circumstantial and dubious evidence: Trump said so.

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80 percent of GOP believes Trump's Biden-Manhattan conspiracy theory - The Washington Post