Sheldon Adelson-Owned Las Vegas Review-Journal Endorses President Donald Trump

Posted on: October 5, 2020, 08:59h. 

Last updated on: October 5, 2020, 11:40h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson wants President Donald Trump to stay in office for another four years. Now, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by the Adelson family empire, has come out in support of the 45th Commander-in-Chief.

Sheldon Adelson Donald Trump endorsement
President Donald Trump waves to supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center where he’s battling COVID-19. Trump has received the endorsement of Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Review-Journal. (Image: AFP)

The RJ is only the sixth newspaper to endorse Trump in 2020. But as the largest circulated daily paper in a key swing state, the media outlet’s backing of the president is the most significant to date.

The most pressing matter facing Nevada and the nation in coming months, and even years, will be the resurrection of the economy post-pandemic. Mr. Trump’s record on job creation and economic growth speaks for itself,” the RJ editorial team op-ed reasoned.

The RJ did denounce Trump’s impulsive and often distasteful rhetoric but believe he’s the better candidate to help the Nevada and Las Vegas economy bounce back from the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“For all his flaws, Donald J. Trump stands in forceful contrast to the relentless progressive attacks on this nation that deny and minimize the advances we have made over the decades to better reflect and honor our founding ideals. He deserves a second term,” the endorsement concluded.

Adelson is Nevada’s richest citizen and the Republican Party’s largest donor in each of the last two election cycles.

Adelson’s Influence

Sheldon Adelson is worth more than $30 billion. His Las Vegas Sands, which owns and operates The Venetian and Parisian on the Strip, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and five casino resorts in Macau, made him one of the richest men on the planet. He’s expected to give around $50 million to Trump’s reelection effort during the home stretch.

A pillar of journalism is that newspaper owners aren’t supposed to interfere with news content. That has certainly been threatened in modern times, as media outlets have gone in both directions away from simply presenting the news without bias.

When it comes to editorials, however, newspaper owners have long directed their staffers to push their philosophies.

Sheldon Adelson, billionaire casino magnate and Republican Party megadonor, is the new owner of Nevada’s largest newspaper,” the RJ editorial team wrote in late 2015. “The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s editorial page can become his family’s personal soap box, if that’s what they want.”

Adelson dismissed those suggestions. “The Review-Journal is already on my side of the political spectrum,” the billionaire said of the newspaper’s slightly libertarian/conservative tilt prior to his takeover.

Biden’s Media Backers

The only other newspapers to back Trump in 2020 are Apple Daily, Boston Herald, Church Militant, The Epoch Times, and Santa Barbara News-Press.

The outlets fail in respect and notoriety of Biden’s laundry list of newspaper endorsements, which includes the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. Nevada’s second most-circulated newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun, has also come out in support of Biden.

Does any of this matter in today’s times? Does any substantial percentage of American voters go to the election booths with their choice made on a newspaper’s opinion?

“Given the public’s lack of trust in the media, it might be time for newspapers to take a break from editorial endorsements,” opined Tara Sonenshine, a former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the US Department of State. “Keeping the media out of politics and in the business of covering news might put us back on track to building confidence in journalism.”