Nevada GOP Gov Candidate Dean Heller Sincerely Believes Whatever MAGA Voters Tell Him

The ‘Trump yes man’ is back!

When Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen from Nevada defeated Republican incumbent Dean Heller in 2018, a key part of her strategy was painting Heller as a “Trump yes man” with no spine. This wasn’t hard. Heller had quickly supported Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh without reservations, and he’d dismissed the credible sexual assault charges against Kavanaugh as a mere “hiccup." 

Now Heller is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak, and he’s still very much a “Trump yes man.” Last September, during a 30-minute interview at the Washoe County Republican headquarters, he couldn’t even directly say that Joe Biden was president: “I know who the president of the United States is, we're not arguing that. What I am arguing is the process and how we got there ... I still know who the president is, but I do believe we have a problem with elections.”

REMEMBER? Dean Heller Promises To Abort Election Reforms, Abortion Rights If Nevada Will Just Take Him Back 

Heller took the fascist ass kissing to the next level Tuesday. After a speech at the Nevada Republican Club luncheon in the Ahern Hotel, he told reporters that he didn’t believe Biden was a legitimate president. According to his aide Jack Finn, Heller "said that 71 percent of Republicans in Nevada believe Biden is an illegitimate President and that he is part of that 71 percent.”

Obviously, Heller wants to win the GOP nomination, so he’s just gonna blindly follow whatever the majority of brainwashed imbeciles "believe." That’s just math and craven opportunism.

Heller argued that Democrats are also questioning the legitimacy of elections, as if there’s any similarity between concerns about the GOP’s active voter suppression efforts and Trump just making stuff up.

“This game you guys are playing is just going to go on and on, and if you have a president of the United States today that says, ‘I can’t tell you whether or not the ‘22 election is going to be legitimate,’ don’t hang this around Republican necks,” Heller said. “This is on both sides of the aisle.”

This is false equivalency theatre: Trump declared before a single vote was cast that the 2020 election would be rigged because of mail-in voting, which has existed for years with no reported issues. (He’s used it himself.) Biden suggested that elections where Black people couldn’t vote might not fully represent the democratic process.

REMEMBER? Trump Will Vote By Mail. The Rest Of You People Can Vote By Dying. 

Since Heller's last election, the Republican Party’s platform is more or less COVID and coups. Heller seems fully on board. He’s attacked Sisolak’s pandemic response, claiming that 2020’s shutdowns put Nevada “at the top of every bad list in America.” He also subtly justifies the January 6 insurrection when he says that Biden’s election was illegitimate. Heller’s problem is that it’s hard to win a GOP primary with “subtle.” He’s running against some true believers in the Marjorie Taylor Greene mold who use bullhorns instead of dog whistles.

REMEMBER? Professional Silly Person Michele Fiore Launches Gun-Toting Run For Nevada Gov 

Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore is also running for governor, and in a saner world, she wouldn’t stand a chance. However, Fiore’s campaign is running ads in Florida, where she’s not running for governor but where Donald Trump lives. Heller met with Trump personally a few weeks ago, but he won’t say what they discussed, even though all Trump does these days is whine about the election.

“That’s personal,” Heller said. “I don’t kiss and tell when it comes to Trump.”

 Giphy 

During his speech Tuesday, Heller vowed to repeal the state’s Commerce Tax, claiming the tax on large businesses, which a GOP-controlled legislature and then GOP governor supported, was the “biggest black mark on the Republican Party in the last 20, 25 years.” I know Republicans hate taxes, but seriously, an attempted coup is objectively worse.

Ending on a positive note:  Heller is currently trailing in the polls to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, and Sisolak has opened up a solid lead over them both. Let’s take nothing for granted in Nevada, though. Go vote.

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