By Haajrah Gilani
Las Vegas Sun
(TNS)
Jan. 25—President Donald Trump stood inside Circa Las Vegas this afternoon surrounded by dozens of supporters and ahead of a wall reading, “NO TAX ON TIPS.”
The pledge to end taxes on tipped income, first introduced over the summer at a rally in service industry-reliant Las Vegas, became a key pitch in his winning presidential campaign. Trump was sworn into office Monday for a second term.
“I’m sure it had no influence on the state, the fact that we won this crazy, massive majority—a state that hadn’t been won by a Republican in decades,” Trump said, joking about the proposal’s popularity. “But I’m sure you haven’t heard, but we’re going to get it for you: no tax on tips.”
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Trump said he would work with Congress to pass the measure “in the coming weeks.” His 40-minute address also included touting his November victory, bashing former President Joe Biden’s policies and celebrating the first week of actions back in office.
“I wanted to come to Nevada to pay my respects because this is the only Republican win of the state in decades, and it was a very big landslide.” Trump said. “But I think Republicans are going to win a lot now.”
Trump won in Nevada over then Vice President Kamala Harris by about 46,000 votes.
Trump spent Friday visiting hurricane-stricken North Carolina—where he floated terminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency—and the devastation in Southern California from ongoing wildfires.
Trump has issued dozens of executive orders since taking office Monday, prioritizing immigration, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to repeal the Biden administration’s work.
“We got rid of the woke,” he proclaimed.
While many of his early actions are campaign promises, they also bear a striking resemblance to far-right Project 2025 proposals, though the president said he had no connection to the guidebook for “the next conservative administration.”
Some of Trump’s initial actions, like deploying the National Guard to the southern border and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, mirror the blueprint’s plans.
Democratic leadership has condemned many of the executive efforts, particularly the attempt to strike down birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the Constitution. A Ronald Reagan-appointed judge blocked the action earlier this week.
“Obviously, we’ll appeal it,” Trump said at an executive order signing Thursday. “They put it before a certain judge—in Seattle, I guess, right? And there’s no surprises with that judge.”
Much of Trump’s first term was defined by legal battles, with the president’s orders on the travel ban and provisions on “sanctuary cities” remaining in the courtroom with a bulk of his time in office.
Earlier this week, Sen. Jacky Rosen D- Nev., listed the birthright citizenship executive order as one that immediately stood out to her. She said her office, as they analyze all the presidential actions’ impacts on Nevada, will be working to understand what doing away with the 14th Amendment guarantee would look like and how another battle in the courts would play out.
“We believe that it is, again, not constitutional to do this,” Rosen said. “We will be working with others on how we fight back.”
At Saturday’s event, the president said he was optimistic about a $500 billion private-sector investment for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The partnership comes with OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, which Trump claims “is going to be very good for Nevada.”
Trump appears to be gaining support from the technology sector and Silicon Valley, with big-name CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and his newfound political ally Elon Musk attending his inauguration Monday.
Mengjia Guo Park, a San Francisco resident in town for a convention who attended the rally, said Trump’s personality is “charming,” and commended his pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the creator of darknet market website Silk Road.
She added she was especially interested in billionaire Musk’s goals for space discovery and mining.
The state Democratic Party was critical of the executive orders Trump issued in his initial week back in the White House.
“Instead of focusing on lowering costs for hardworking Nevadans, Donald Trump spent his first week in office pardoning violent Jan. 6 rioters and attempting to change the Constitution and end birthright citizenship by executive order,” Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno said in a statement.
Photo caption: President Donald Trump dances with supporters after a speech at the Circa on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Las Vegas (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)
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(c)2025 the Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.). Visit the Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.) at www.lasvegassun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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