Phil Ruffin arrived Saturday morning at McCarran International Airport with the president via Air Force One. The billionaire owns a 50 percent stake in the non-gaming Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, as well as the on-Strip’s Treasure Island, where the then-presidential candidate held a campaign rally in 2016.<\/strong><\/p>\nRuffin wasn’t the only casino owner to meet face-to-face with the president. At the South Point roundtable, The Drew developer Steve Witkoff praised Trump for stimulating the economy.<\/p>\n
The New York real estate developer acquired the unfinished Fontainebleau in August 2017 from billionaire Carl Icahn for $600 million. Witkoff — who’s known Trump for many years — called the president “a special man” whose relationship has “been a blessing.”<\/p>\n
The Drew is named after Witkoff’s son, who died of an oxycodone overdose in 2011 at the age of 22. Trump said Drew “was a great young man.” Witkoff explained that The Drew will cost $3 billion to complete.<\/p>\n
Notably Absent<\/b><\/h2>\n The Strip is home to some of Trump’s most heavily bnakrolled and steadfast supporters, none more so than billionaire Sheldon Adelson. The Las Vegas Sands founder gave $25 million a week before the November 2016 election to flood televisions with pro-Trump spots.<\/p>\n
But Adelson was a no-show on Saturday. Ditto for Station Casinos owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who, along with Ruffin, are leading Trump’s early 2020 campaign efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\nWithout a clear Democratic challenger at this juncture, Trump remains the heavy favorite to win the 2020 reelection at PredictIt.org. Shares on a Trump victory are trading for 41 cents Monday, with former VP Joe Biden the next closest at just 12 cents.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump was in Las Vegas on Saturday — star of the Nevada GOP State Convention that was held at the Suncoast Casino, with a subsequent roundtable at the South Point — where he urged support for Republican gubernatorial candidate and current state Attorney General\u00a0Paul Laxalt and the importance of maintaining the party’s slim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":81711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Donald Trump in LV for Nevada GOP: Gaming Operators Applaud Tax Cuts<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n