Lombardo literally distances himself from Trump

The political impact of Trump's "no tax on tips" gimmick was always more consequential than the economic impact ever promised to be. So the most interesting thing about Trump's matinee performance in Las Vegas Thursday wasn't the additional few hundred dollars that may have been in some people’s tax refunds this year. (A few hundred dollars by the way is what working families received per month, per child under the expanded child tax credit in effect from July through December of 2021 — a program that cut child poverty in half, and which of course congressional Republicans killed. But I digress.)

No, the most interesting thing about Trump's Vegas set Thursday wasn't economic, but political; specifically, who wasn't there. Trump came to Nevada to tout the supercalifragilistic cotton candy he wants to be the symbol of his holy sacred One Big Beautiful Bill. The brander-in-chief touted his Las Vegas appearance as a marquee event to mark a marquee policy, and one purportedly of extra-special significance to Nevada.

And Nevada's Republican governor, who is up for reelection this year, evidently had more pressing plans — namely, not chumming it up in public with a blundering president who single-handedly is turning the U.S. consumer economy into a garbage fire.

IN NEVADA CURRENT

Trump came to Las Vegas to proclaim working Nevadans are better off thanks to his policies, particularly a provision of his giant tax and spending bill that provides a tax deduction to workers earning tipped incomes. But the Trump economy, which has been rocked by his war with Iran and its accompanying $5 a gallon gas, wasn’t impressive enough that Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo wanted to bask in it Thursday. April Corbin Girnus and Matthew Mondschein report: Lombardo a no-show at Trump’s ‘no tax on tips’ event in Las Vegas

Decline and fall update. Prediction markets reflect a civilization in free fall. Or as the Trump administration would say, ooh, cool. The Nevada gambling industry, long an active catalyst for civilizational collapse in its own right, does not object to prediction markets because they're a pox on society. The Nevada gambling industry objects to prediction markets because it doesn't like the competition. And courts might side with Nevada. Dana Gentry reports:  Ninth Circuit panel appears to lean Nevada’s way in legal battle with Kalshi, Crypto.com

Often as not, stories previewing Nevada judicial elections include a morsel (or more) indicating judicial candidates can be ... well ... sort of ... oh, let's just say judges are people too, and leave it at that. Busy Ms. Gentry reports: Clark County District Court Dept. 13 vacancy draws three hopefuls

Occasional reminder to federal immigration agents: Reality is not the same as an action movie or a video game. “Driving while pointing a weapon out of your moving vehicle at the victims who were in another moving vehicle could have led to yet another disastrous incident,” the prosecutor observed. The (allegedly) idiotically dangerous behavior of the ICE man-child aside, this could be a precedent-setting case. Via Minnesota Reformer: First ICE officer charged with assault for threatening people with a gun in MinnesotaGood Luck