Takeaways from this week's Nevada GOP contests: Trump wins, Haley stays, voters have doubts

LAS VEGAS ? Donald Trump trumpeted his caucus win, Nikki Haley lost her primary to "none" but still won and then said she wasn't trying anyway, and the confusing, dueling Nevada Republican elections finished with little change to the field.

Among the Democrats, President Joe Biden easily and without drama won the state's presidential preference election.

Meanwhile, the Republican side created confusion for some voters. The state ran a legally mandated primary Tuesday, but the state's Republican Party staged its own caucuses Thursday, and said only those votes would count for awarding 26 delegates to the Republican National Convention. It also said any candidate who participated in the primary would be barred from the caucuses.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador, skipped the caucuses, which she argued were rigged in former President Trump's favor from the start. In Tuesday's primary, she got fewer votes than "none of these candidates," which Nevada law requires as an option, but still technically won because the law says only a named candidate can win.

Thursday night at a Republican caucus site near the Strip, Trump supporter Bob Roberts, 69, said he was frustrated the party decided to conduct a caucus and a primary, a process he felt was unnecessarily complicated.

“They’re making it confusing at hell. And let’s face it, conservatives don’t like complication," said Roberts, who works in construction.

But at the end of the day, Roberts said, Trump was always going to triumph in the show of strength necessary to silence critics within the GOP: "We need Trump in there to finish what he tried to do the first time."

Trump stays in control

A beaming Trump took the stage at the Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas late Thursday to celebrate his long-expected caucus victory.

"You broke the all-time record," Trump bragged to the crowd, which cheered in response. "We wanted to get over 80 (percent) and we got 98."

With 40% of the votes counted, Trump actually received 99% of the caucus votes, with challenger Ryan Binkley, a Texas-based businessman and pastor, winning fewer than 1%.

Trump spoke hours after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Colorado court case that's trying to keep him off that state's ballot over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, in which thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The Colorado court ruled that Trump, by encouraging and supporting the mob, disqualified himself for re-election.

Trump also attacked Biden over the special counsel's report Thursday that although the president mishandled classified documents after his service as vice president, he would not be charged. Trump is also under investigation for taking classified documents when he left office, and is also accused of trying to hide the documents when federal officials tried to recover them.

The special counsel investigating Biden noted the president cooperated with investigators after discovering the documents and voluntarily turning them over. The special counsel also cited the fact that Biden is an elderly man with "diminished capacities" as a reason not to press charges, a characterization that Biden's opponents immediately tried to use to their advantage.

Trump supporters say it's unfair for a court to stop voters from choosing their preferred candidate, regardless of his legal status. Trump called the Supreme Court hearing "a very beautiful sight to watch," referencing the skepticism justices displayed toward the case.

Trump has lost Nevada twice to Biden. While large, rural portions of the state historically votes Republican, Las Vegas in particular is heavily Democratic, in part due to the well-organized casino-and-hotel unions.

This time, Trump promised he'd triumph.

"Go back home, rest, and then come back," Trump told the crowd. "If we win the state of Nevada, it's over for them."

Haley stays in the Republican primary

After the primary results came in Tuesday night, Haley's campaign admitted they hadn't even tried to win the meaningless primary. Some Nevada political observers had suggested Haley might try to put up a strong showing as a way of persuading voters in the rest of the country that her campaign remains viable. But her campaign downplayed the Nevada primary results in which 22,000 people supported her, compared to more than 47,000 for "none."

“Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots the house wins,” Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement Tuesday. “We didn’t bother to play a game rigged for Trump. We’re full steam ahead in South Carolina and beyond.”

Haley's campaign this week announced upcoming events or supporters in Alaska, California, Idaho, Massachusetts and South Carolina, indicating her plans to keep pushing through, at least until Super Tuesday on March 5.

The Trump campaign has been touting polls showing he's well ahead of Haley in her own home state, and are hoping a strong victory there will force her to suspend her campaign.

Buoyed by his win ? and Haley's flagging campaign, which he mentioned obliquely ? Trump joked that he wished the presidential election could be held next week. But in referring to Tuesday's primary, Trump mistakenly said it happened Wednesday.

"You know what happened last night, right? 'None of the above," Trump said as the crowd roared. "I'd like to congratulate none of the above."

Meanwhile, Biden saw the field against him clearing out, as author Marianne Williamson suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday, citing low support following the New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada votes.

Troubling signs for both Trump and Biden when it comes to their ages

Many voters who spoke to USA TODAY during the primary and caucus said the ages of Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, were a source of frustration. Some Haley supporters said they believe her candidacy provides a much-needed counter to Trump amid ongoing questions about his mental acuity.

Trump In October confused the leaders of Hungary and Turkey while praising the authoritarian style of governing of one of them. Biden on Thursday referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as “the president of Mexico.”

Haley, 52, has also knocked Biden's age, and called for him to take a mental competency test following the special counsel's comments about his "diminished" memory capacity.

"There's a reason 70% of Americans don't want to see a Biden-Trump rematch," Haley told Sean Hannity's Fox News program Thursday. "The party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins."

Biden angrily rejected the special counsel's comments ? "My memory is fine," the visibly emotional president said in a primetime address Thursday night ? but the report and his mixup over the leader of Mexico is yet another reference to his mental facility, a concern among even his strongest supporters.

Longtime Democratic voter Bruce Bartlett, 80, said he saw his own memory and body weakening as he hit his 60s and decided to retire, and worried Biden lacks the strength to keep fighting. But more than that, he said, he worries the younger voters Biden needs to win reelection won't turn out in November.

"We are ready for a new generation of people to run for office," said Bartlett, a Reno-area retired peace officer. "I realized at 62 that times had changed. It was time to turn over my job to a new generation. And it’s time to do that with elected offices too."

David Jackson contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nevada Republican caucus takeaway: Trump wins, Haley lost primary