President Donald Trump addresses the Nevada Republican Party Convention at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday. | Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images In Nevada, Trump goes after ‘Wacky Jacky’

President Donald Trump tried to give a boost to Sen. Dean Heller in Las Vegas on Saturday, dubbing his opponent “Wacky Jacky” while brushing past the immigration controversy that has overwhelmed his presidency in recent days.

"You don't want her as your senator," Trump said of Heller’s opponent, Democrat Rep. Jacky Rosen, at Nevada Republicans’ state convention. "Now, that name didn't come from me. That's a name that people have known because people that know her, that's what they call her, Wacky Jacky, that's what you want for your senator?"


Trump largely eschewed talk of his administration's zero tolerance policy on immigration that sparked an international outcry. While visiting the southwestern state where roughly 29 percent of the population is Hispanic or Latino, Trump stressed that America could not afford to be weak on immigration.

After initially defending the policy that led to the separation of hundreds of migrant families, Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that sought to at least temporarily end the practice of forcibly removing children from parents who illegally crossed the border.

But the vaguely worded order leaves many open questions, including just how exactly the administration will unite the over 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski joined the president for the trip, just days after he responded "womp womp" to a fellow Fox News panelist who brought up the case of a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome who had been separated from her mother.

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The president's trip to Nevada comes as Heller, who joined Trump on Saturday for a roundtable discussion on the Republican Party's tax law, is widely viewed as one of the most endangered GOP incumbents on the ballot this November.

According to local media reports, hundreds gathered outside the Suncoast Hotel & Casino to protest the president and his immigration policies before he arrived.

Trump chided Heller on Saturday for "initially being shaky" during the presidential campaign — the senator told reporters in October 2016 he was 99 percent sure he would not support his party’s presidential nominee — but said the senator is now "rock solid."

Heller looked like he was in for a possibly bruising primary campaign against Danny Tarkanian, the son of the legendary UNLV basketball coach and a frequent candidate, but Trump leaned on Tarkanian and convinced him to seek a U.S. House seat instead, clearing the way for Heller.

After initially taking a hard line over Senate leadership-led efforts to repeal Obamacare, Heller voted in favor of a procedural measure to open debate to consider plans to repeal the law. After the GOP stalled on a replacement plan, Heller supported a slimmed down alternative, known as "skinny repeal," that failed in dramatic fashion when Republicans Sens. John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins broke with their party, dooming the proposal. Heller also supported the GOP's rewrite of the tax code.

Trump still appeared miffed that McCain's vote thwarted a much larger repeal of President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement. While not mentioning him by name, Trump said on Saturday that "nobody knew he was going to do that."

"He campaigned on repeal and replace ... for years," Trump said of the Arizona senator who remains away from Washington as he continues to battle brain cancer.

Along with dubbing Rosen "wacky," the president returned to his favorite harangue of Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a possible 2020 opponent, as "Pocahontas," after mentioning reports that Warren was also in the state campaigning.

Trump concluded by framing the race in very stark terms, arguing that a vote for Rosen was not just support for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, but also an endorsement of lawlessness.

"But a vote for her is a vote for increased taxes. Weak borders. It is really a vote for crime," the president said.

Responding to the president's attacks later, Rosen called the insult "petty" and said Trump is only campaigning in the state because Heller has capitulated to him.

“The President is attacking me with lies and petty insults because I’m not afraid to stand up to him," Rosen said in a statement. "This was Senator Heller’s reward for his loyalty.”