As thousands of Nevadans rallied throughout the state to protest Donald Trump’s price-raising agenda that will cut Medicaid and education funding, Joe Lombardo told a crowd of supporters behind closed doors that the reason Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation is because, “people would rather manipulate the government process and receive unemployment or to sit at home versus occupying a job that’s available.” Lombardo continued, “The central message [of the protests] was, ‘What do you mean? You want me to go back to work? […] What can the government do to give handouts to us?’” Finally, an angry Lombardo concluded with a “f*** you” to anyone who criticizes his performance as governor.
Lombardo, who is apparently divorced from reality, also took a conspiratorial tone when he accused the tens of thousands of protestors across the nation last weekend of being paid for by the Democratic Party. Lombardo said “those stupid protests” were “paid by the Democratic Party” and that “momentum and those crowds sizes isn’t because they’re pissed, because they want to make a difference, it’s because they’re getting paid.”
This all comes after a recent report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that under Joe Lombardo, Nevada’s unemployment rate in February remained the highest in the nation at 5.8%. Since February 2024, Nevada’s unemployment has increased .5% and is higher today than when Lombardo took office in 2023 and higher than at any time in 2022 when he was running for governor. Last month, the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) reported that in January unemployment increased in every single county. Ironically, while on the campaign trail in 2022, Lombardo said the governor could “control” Nevada’s unemployment rate.
Nevada Current: Lombardo disses Democratic voters, and has a raunchy message for detractors
Key points:
- Sounding more like Rodney Dangerfield than the chief executive of Nevada, Gov. Joe Lombardo complained last weekend to a Republican gathering that he’s getting no respect in the Democratically-controlled Nevada Legislature, which he says has left him impotent to chart a course for the state.
- “Unless you have that majority, you can’t make this difference. Can’t make a difference,” Lombardo lamented while addressing the crowd at the Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner in Pahrump.
- The speech was an illustration of Lombardo’s fleeting efforts at bipartisanship.
- “As governor, I am filled with hope and optimism [in] what we can accomplish if we simply summon the will to work together,” Lombardo said in his inauguration address in 2023. “This is the central covenant of my administration.”
- He went on to veto a record 75 bills.
- In January, during his State of the State speech, he urged state lawmakers to “set aside partisan politics.”
- But on Saturday, common ground was beyond the governor’s grasp as he maligned Democratic voters as well as elected officials.
- “I think it’s important for people to realize that the strategy associated with the Democratic Party is stay at home. ‘What can the government do to give handouts to us in order to ensure that we continue to support the government’ and re-elect people that represent them in that manner?”
- The governor complained that he’s stifled by the Legislature’s Democratic majority.
- “Every day on social media, I get a submissive (sic) that says, ‘Why isn’t Governor Lombardo doing what Governor DeSantis is doing? Why isn’t Governor Lombardo doing what Governor Youngkin is doing? Why isn’t Governor Lombardo doing what Governor Abbott is doing?’ Because I don’t have that luxury of a majority of the Legislature that is of the Republican Party.”
- Lombardo had a message for the “individuals on social media – that are talking bad about all of us, in particular me. And a little bit on [Lt. Gov.] Stavros Anthony,” he joked. “Who cares? Stavros said the line is ‘f**k you.’ He actually didn’t say that. I said that.”
- Lombardo suggested “those stupid protests that occur in the state capital” are paid for by the Democratic Party, adding momentum among Democrats “isn’t because they’re pissed because they want to make a difference, it’s because they’re being paid.”
- Yet, he observed, Nevada leads the nation in unemployment and job availability.
- “You know why? Because they’re not quality jobs,” he said. “People would rather manipulate the government process and receive unemployment or to sit at home versus occupying a job that’s available that doesn’t see their family moving forward.”
- Lombardo announced he endorsed Nevada Republican Party chairman Michael McDonald for re-election.
- “Everybody complains about like, ‘Why is he still the chair? Why is he still the chair? One, he wants to do it, which is very important,” the governor said. “Two, he has the fire in his stomach to do it. And three is he’s made a difference.”
- McDonald, who like Lombardo, is a former Las Vegas Metro cop, was one of five fake electors who cast Nevada’s electoral votes in 2020 for Donald Trump.
KRNV: ‘F*** you,’ Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo says to social media critics in leaked audio
Key points:
- Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo (R) said his message to people critical of him on social media is ‘f*** you’ in audio recorded at a private dinner over the weekend and leaked on social media by Meidas Touch.
- In a series of three leaked recordings, Lombardo also was heard saying that protestors in Carson City were ‘paid by the Democratic Party’ and that the theme of the Democratic Party is ‘hands out,’ a reference to last weekend’s ‘Hands Off’ protests.
- A source with knowledge of the dinner told News 4-Fox 11 the recordings were authentic. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Gov. Lombardo said ‘no comment.’
- The remarks came during the Lincoln Day Dinner in Carson City, an annual Republican event and fundraiser. Gov. Lombardo was the keynote speaker.
- “All the individuals on social media, they’re talking bad about all of us, in particular me. And a little bit on Stavros Anthony. Who cares? Stavros said the line is ‘F*** you,'” Lombardo said, prompting cheers in the room. “He actually didn’t say that — I said that.”
- “And those stupid protests that occur in the state capital and is paid by the Democratic Party. That momentum and those crowd sizes isn’t because they’re pissed, because they want to make a difference. It’s because they’re getting paid. So don’t lose sight of that,” Lombardo said in another recording.
- Thousands of people attended Nevada’s ‘Hands Off’ rally against the Trump administration in Carson City over the weekend. There were dozens of such protests across the country, which drew massive crowds.
- “The simple message was ‘What do you mean you want me to go back to work?’ It’s ridiculous. I think it’s important for people to realize that the strategy associated with the Democratic Party is stay at home and what can the government do to give handouts to us?” Lombardo said.
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