Lombardo’s the last person who should be yammering about handouts

Governor Anti-Handouts presses the flesh with Elon Musk in January 2023, a few weeks before Nevada rubber-stamped more than $400 worth of handouts to Musk. (Photo: Governor’s office)

Last week at the Hands Off protest in Carson City, likely the largest in that red town’s history, and part of the largest mobilization in the U.S. since Donald Trump took office, I spoke against Joe Lombardo’s cowardice from the perspective of a senior citizen who wants to give my 7th-generation Nevada grandkids a shot at a stable democracy and a livable planet.

Apparently, Gov. Lombardo heard us. He told his supporters that the 7,000 Nevadans who showed up only wanted government handouts and we were paid to be there. To those of us who exercise our Constitutional rights as Americans to criticize our elected officials, Lombardo laughed and said,  “F**k you.”  

The April 5th crowd was largely older people like me, who came up before the normalization of public vulgarity and who worked our entire lives to pay into Social Security and Medicare. We vehemently oppose Elon Musk and Trump attempting to screw millions of workers and retirees out of these earned benefits.

Lombardo knows about handouts. He has a solid track record of giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks, on behalf of Nevada workers, to his billionaire buddies like Elon Musk and the owner of the Oakland A’s. 

As long as the oligarchic ruling class is on the receiving end, and not people with disabilities, seniors, or students, he’s all for government handouts. 

Lombardo’s track record of genuflecting to all things Trump goes back to when the former sheriff endorsed a convicted felon and claimed, “Not only will President Trump bring down the rising costs of housing, groceries, and gas, he will usher in a new era of American prosperity.” And he has gone all out for Trump since.

Lombardo led the applause, in a far right publication, for the abolishment of the Department of Education, which will further erode public education for Nevada’s kids who can’t afford the private schools Lombardo’s rich buddies send their kids to.

He cowered in silent acquiescence while Trump tried to seize control of our state’s elections to federally restrain voting rights.

Lombardo cosigned with other Republican governors and pledged to deploy the Nevada National Guard for mass deportations at Trump’s command.

He defended Trump’s tariffs by saying Nevadans “need to feel a little pain in the short term” and that he will deal with them “on the fly.”

Lombardo is also working hard to one-up Trump’s dismantling of decades of efforts to address the climate crisis by replacing the Nevada climate plan with his own  blueprint for fossil gas expansion.

Like Trump, who has granted every wish of the oil billionaires to slow down the momentum we’ve made on climate change, Lombardo is bending over backwards for his buddies at Southwest Gas and NV Energy to build out polluting fracked methane plants.

If and when Trump invokes the Insurrection Act to imprison those of us who lawfully protest, we can be sure that Lombardo will stand idly by.

In short, Lombardo is a coward. He is afraid to say in public what he says behind our backs. At the most dangerous moment in American history since the Civil War, he is too fearful of MAGA primary voters to stand up to Trump. As someone who (illegally) campaigned in his sheriff’s uniform to project himself as the embodiment of justice, truth and patriotic values, he is beyond absolution because he knows better. 

Lombardo’s defense of the current state of affairs and his back room, expletive-laden attacks on Nevadans are dishonorable and despicable. His days are numbered because when we vote in the 2026 election, we’ll send him packing back to Las Vegas.