‘Dumping ground’: Trump echoes conservative ‘Project 2025’ at first rally as a felon

Donald Trump used his first rally since his criminal conviction to rail against migrants entering the United States illegally, echoing harsh characterizations in the “Project 2025” policy blueprint for a second term drafted by some of his allies.

The political world was watching the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee closely Sunday as he rallied loyalists in sweltering Las Vegas for the first time since a jury in New York found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump, at an outdoor rally in the desert city with temperatures over 100 degrees, mostly played his hits — but he also dropped clues about a potential second term.

Trump and President Joe Biden are locked in a tight battle nationally and in battleground states such as Nevada. Biden won the Silver State four years ago, capturing 50.06 percent of the vote to Trump’s 47.67 percent. A Beacon Research-Shaw & Company Research poll conducted for Fox News June 1-3 showed Trump leading there by 5 percentage points; a RealClearPolitics average of six recent polls put Trump up 5.3 percentage points.