{"id":587666,"date":"2026-04-16T12:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587666\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T12:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:05:12","slug":"trump-heads-to-las-vegas-a-push-to-focus-on-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587666\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump heads to Las Vegas, a push to focus on the economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> heads to Las Vegas on Thursday to promote the tax cuts he signed into law last year<\/a> to try to highlight what Republicans see as an economic strength ahead of this year\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n

Workers who earn tips and overtime are seeing bigger returns this tax season<\/a>, but those savings and others resulting from the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d that Trump signed last year have been eaten away by higher gas prices<\/a>driven by the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s rare trip out West comes as Trump faces growing political pressure to wrap up the war<\/a> and focus on a message that helps his party as they try to defend their congressional majorities in November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Trump will hold an event in Phoenix with conservative political group Turning Point USA. But his first stop is in Las Vegas where he will hold a roundtable with several police officers who have benefited from new tax breaks on overtime<\/a>, along with a barber and a casino pit supervisor, who got to claim the new tax breaks on tips<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the average tax refund this year has been over $3,400, up about $340 from a year ago.<\/p>\n

Vegas, once known for affordable living, feels economic pain<\/p>\n

Trump has said he first conceived of his \u201cno tax on tips\u201d in Las Vegas, a city where entertainment<\/a> is the financial lifeblood and many workers depend on gratuities from visitors.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also a city of commuters, including the tipped workers who drive to their jobs at glitzy casinos. Gasoline is averaging $5 a gallon in Las Vegas, up 28% from a year ago, according to AAA.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Delaney, an airline attendant who lives in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson and said he did not vote for the president in 2024, said he thinks Trump is doing a \u201cterrible\u201d job when it comes to the cost of living. He thought the tax break for tips was a good policy, but is concerned about the cost of groceries and gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta spend over $100 for a full tank of gas, 13 gallons? Crazy,\u201d Delaney said.<\/p>\n

Paula Goodman, a bartender in a Henderson casino, said the cost of living is her biggest concern right now, adding that she spends more than $400 a week on groceries for her family.<\/p>\n

But Goodman, who voted for the president, said she thought he is \u201cdoing a pretty good damn job,\u201d and doesn\u2019t blame him for high gas prices, which she portrayed as just a fluctuation. As a bartender, she said she personally appreciated the tax savings on tips she brings home.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery little penny nowadays is, like, huge,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen diesel, right? $6.11.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tax refunds are offset by gas prices<\/p>\n

The White House said Trump is focused on tax cuts, deregulation and boosting U.S. energy production to drive down prices, and describes high gas prices as a temporary disruption from the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cTens of millions of Americans are benefiting this tax season from the president\u2019s signature provisions\u201d in the tax law, said White House spokesman Kush Desai, saying that shows \u201chow the administration hasn\u2019t lost focus on delivering on our affordability agenda at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, the conflict has made things less affordable. The Bank of America Institute looked at its deposit and spending data and in a Tuesday analysis concluded that \u201cthe average increase in tax refunds could cover the average increase in gasoline spending for at least five months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, the insurance and financial services company, said last week in an analysis that \u201cthe steep rise in gasoline prices looks likely to completely offset the increased tax funds windfall with households,\u201d stressing that the money back would likely prevent a sharper drop in consumer spending.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s economic message focusing on the tax breaks has also been drowned out this week by distractions from the president himself, who angered even some of his own supporters when he got into a public fight with the pope and posted a now-deleted image on social media depicting himself as Jesus.<\/p>\n

GOP strategist Ron Bonjean said among Republicans, \u201cthe frustration and concern is growing every week about whether or not we will be able to hold onto the House this November.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes a lot of repetition for a message like promoting the tax bill to break through to voters, but Trump\u2019s tendency to drift into other subjects can dilute that, Bonjean said. Trump, who has at times dismissed affordability concerns<\/a> as \u201ca hoax,\u201d and \u201ccon job\u201d from Democrats, has to acknowledge the economic realities people are facing now if he wants to help his party this November, Bonjean said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe absolutely has to talk about his plan to bring down high gasoline costs, or else he\u2019s lost his own message. It won\u2019t be credible just to talk about no taxes on tips,\u201d Bonjean said.<\/p>\n

When will gas prices come down?<\/p>\n

While the president has said he thinks the war with Iran will end soon, a deal to resolve it has not yet emerged, with the U.S. and Iran still proffering stances that are far apart.<\/p>\n

Trump on Sunday said in a Fox News Channel interview that gas prices \u201ccould be the same or maybe a little bit higher\u201d by the November midterms.<\/p>\n

By Wednesday, in another Fox News interview, Trump walked back that comment. \u201cI think they\u2019ll be much lower\u201d before the election, on the assumption the war will be long over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that\u2019s settled, gas prices are going to go down tremendously,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Hours later at the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was less rosy, predicting that gas prices will fall sometime this summer, depending on how the negotiations with Iran go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th, that we can have $3 gas again,\u201d Bessent told reporters.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump heads to Las Vegas on Thursday to promote the tax cuts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,12,101,1070,69620,793,3138,801,1570,228242,92381,2114,170164,1058,256971,1060,139727,256970,111,212547,4666,1548,795,3438,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-587666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-elections","12":"tag-energy-markets","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-government-and-politics","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-iran-government","17":"tag-iran-war","18":"tag-kathy-bostjancic","19":"tag-las-vegas","20":"tag-midterm-elections","21":"tag-nevada","22":"tag-nicholas-delaney","23":"tag-nv-state-wire","24":"tag-oil-and-gas-industry","25":"tag-paula-goodman","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-ron-bonjean","28":"tag-scott-bessent","29":"tag-taxes","30":"tag-u-s-news","31":"tag-u-s-republican-party","32":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}