HENDERSON, Nevada: President Donald Trump held a Nevada campaign rally at an indoor venue on Sunday despite public health professionals’ warnings against large indoor gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump, a Republican, railed against his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, suggesting he was taking drugs and was soft on crime.
“Biden wants to appease domestic terrorists and my plan is to arrest domestic terrorists,” Trump said to an enthusiastic crowd. “If Biden wins, the mob wins.”
People in the crowd were seated close together and many did not wear masks.
Biden has criticized Trump for holding campaign events that put people at risk of contracting the coronavirus, which has killed more than 194,000 people in the United States.
Trump played down the virus in its early stages and has alternately embraced and disregarded advice from public health experts, who encourage mask-wearing and maintaining social distance to prevent its spread.
The president’s campaign portrayed the rally at a large warehouse in Henderson as an opportunity for supporters to exercise their rights to peaceful assembly under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
“If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the First Amendment to hear from the president of the United States,” spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
Participants were to have temperatures taken before entry and be given a mask they would be encouraged to wear, the campaign said.
“I think we’re relatively safe here. I brought a mask but I haven’t felt the need to wear it,” said Ronda Livingston, 64. “I’m not worried about it.”
Trump, who is trailing Biden in national polls and in Nevada, has stepped up the frequency of his rallies in recent weeks, but has held most of them at outdoor venues or in large open airplane hangars to help minimize risk.
Biden has criticized Trump sharply for his response to the virus and promised a comprehensive strategy to fight the pandemic if he succeeds Trump in the White House.
Trump is in the middle of a western swing that will include a campaign stop in Arizona and a visit to California on Monday to be briefed about the wildfires devastating the west coast.
Trump has knocked Biden for doing fewer events and traveling less than he in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election.
Trump holds campaign rally indoors despite coronavirus concerns
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Trump holds campaign rally indoors despite coronavirus concerns
- Trump played down the virus in its early stages and has alternately embraced and disregarded advice from public health experts
- Trump has knocked Biden for doing fewer events and traveling less than he in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election
Intense heat wave grips Australia, fans bushfires
- Communities evacuate as authorities warn of ‘catastrophic’ danger
SYDNEY: Uncontrolled fires burned through bushland in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday, forcing communities to evacuate and authorities to warn of a “catastrophic” fire danger rating for Friday.
Amid temperatures that exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the state, two large bushfires were raging near the towns of Longwood and Walwa.
The fires have destroyed at least two structures and are expected to continue to spread on Friday as heat and wind pick up, authorities said.
The Longwood fire has grown to more than 25,000 hectares in size, while the Walwa fire is 10,000 hectares and has created its own weather system, with a pyrocumulonimbus cloud causing lightning and thunder. Residents in dozens of neighboring towns have been told to evacuate.
Friday’s fire danger rating will be set at “catastrophic,” the highest level, and both fires pose a real risk of loss of life and property, authorities said.
“Tomorrow is a very, very dire bushfire day in the state of Victoria,” Country Fire Authority Chief Officer Jason Heffernan told a news conference.
The bushfires come amid an intense summer heat wave in Australia’s south.
Meteorologists have said conditions are on par with 2019, when bushfires destroyed wide swathes of southeastern Australia, killing 33 people, in what became known as the Black Summer.
Some 450 schools in Victoria are set to close on Friday and many regional train services will be canceled.
For Thursday, total fire bans have been issued in several districts. A total fire ban will be imposed across the whole state on Friday.
In New Zealand, the country’s weather provider, MetService, also warned of record warm temperatures over the weekend as the heat wave moves across the Tasman Sea.
It has issued heat alerts for parts of the eastern coast of New Zealand and the north of the South Island.
