President Trump's re-election campaign is holding an "Evangelicals for Trump" event on Thursday at a Las Vegas hotel and casino, amid Nevada's controversial ban on gatherings of over 50 people in houses of worship while places like casinos fall under laxer rules - a 50 percent capacity limit.
The event, which will feature Trump spiritual adviser Pastor Paula White, megachurch Pastor Jentezen Franklin, and Pastor Jack Hibbs of the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, is scheduled to take place at the Ahern Hotel and Convention Centre, one of Las Vegas's joint hotels and casinos.
A spokesperson for the city told Fox News that they had reminded the organisers to follow coronavirus-mitigating regulations, including social distancing and wearing face masks. Hibbs tweeted shortly afterwards saying the "event will fill up to capacity...".
In their statement the campaigners pointed to the specifics of the legislation suggesting that the gathering would be a rare, unifying event for the state's Christian Evangelicals as this tumultuous time of the pandemic.
"In a time when many Nevadans can't go to church because of overreaching restrictions, President Trump's campaign is bringing together evangelicals from across the community to pray, worship, and discuss key issues facing Americans in the November election", Trump 2020 deputy national press secretary Ken Farnaso stated.
Farnaso thereby picked up on Nevada's anti-coronavirus order, which was recently challenged in the Supreme Court by Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, who complained about the 50-person cap imposed on its congregation. Nevada vehemently defended the order citing the broad police powers granted to states during emergencies like the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which to date has killed more than 150,000 Americans. The Supreme Court later denied the church an injunction, with all of the Republican-appointed justices except for Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting from the court's decision not to give the injunction.
Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote a separate dissent in the case joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, pointed out that not only will "[p]reventing congregants from worshiping ... cause irreparable harm" as the US Constitution fully protects religious liberty, stressing that there was little difference in the nature of gatherings at a church or a casino.
In the wake of the controversy, Farnaso, in a statement, touted Trump's judicial appointments, which have been crucial issues for the evangelical community, who Trump won by a significant margin in 2016 and who are due to attend the Nevada event on Thursday.
A Pew Research Centre survey conducted in June showed 72 percent of white evangelicals approved of Trump's job as president, down five percentage points since January. Meanwhile, 75 percent said Biden would make a "poor" or "terrible" commander-in-chief. The same survey found that 82 percent of white evangelicals plan to vote for Trump, meaning 10 percent of those who said they disapprove of Trump's job performance still intend to vote red.