Trump Scores in Las Vegas: ‘We Will Be Celebrating for a Long Time Tonight’

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Donald Trump celebrated his victory here at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino with a brief but measured and confident speech.

“We will be celebrating for a long time tonight,” Trump told his supporters following his commanding victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Tuesday.

Speaking to a packed audience, Trump expressed gratitude to the state’s voters and predicted victories in the upcoming SEC primaries and in Ohio, where he noted recent polling shows him ahead of Gov. John Kasich.

“It’s going to be an amazing two months. We might not even need the two months,” Trump said, to ear-splitting cheers. “Tomorrow, you’ll be hearing ‘If they could just take the candidates and add them up…’ They keep forgetting that when people drop out, we’re going to get a lot of votes!”

Insanity inside victory party as CNN projects #Trump takes Nevada. pic.twitter.com/9GqTHKAiCA

— Daniel Nussbaum (@dznussbaum) February 24, 2016

Trump thanked his sons Eric and Donald, Jr., who appeared alongside him onstage, as well as campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks, Treasure Island hotel owner Phil Ruffin, and casino magnate Steve Wynn. Ruffin and Wynn were in attendance.

Trump noted that he won the Nevada caucuses with a diverse electorate–including winning among evangelicals, and across the education spectrum from highly educated voters to less educated voters. But the crowd exploded when he said he had won 46 percent of the state’s Hispanic vote.

Trump also touched on some of his campaign’s most familiar themes, added that he would keep the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba open, and turned back to his signature issue: Immigration. He promised once again to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and to force Mexico to pay for it.

“We’re gonna load it up with a lot of bad dudes,” he said. “We’re gonna have the borders nice and strong, we’re going to build a wall, you know that. But let me tell you, Mexico is going to pay for the wall. They know it, I know it, we all know it. They’ll be thrilled to pay for it.”

“You’re going to be proud of your president, and you’re going to be even prouder of your country,” he concluded. “Make America great again. We’re going to do it, and it’s going to happen fast.”