Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
September 16, 2026
The President. Well, hello, North Carolina. Special place. This is a special place. I love it. I love it.
We're going to elect Michael Whatley. That's what we're going to do.
But I'm thrilled to be back in this incredible and beautiful State with thousands of proud, hardworking American patriots. You're incredible—you built this country.
So I won this State six times, including the primary. Six times. And in 2024, we got more votes than any candidate in North Carolina history. That's not bad. That's not bad.
And we won those record-setting victories with the help of a man named Michael Whatley.
He was incredible. You know, he was the chairman of the Republican Party, along with Lara Trump, who's great—and she's gone on to television stardom now. Can you believe this? I said, "Lara, you got to get"—she loves this State. She was born here. But what a team. Those two were the best team there were I tell you.
I said to everybody, anybody that would listen, I said, "When I win this thing, I'm going to take that guy from North Carolina, make him the head of the Republican Party," which is exactly what I did. And he was fantastic. He—nobody better in the whole country. I had my choice of the whole country. I chose Michael Whatley.
But with your vote in this election, we're going to defeat the murderer and criminal protector—he's a murderer protector—the man who made North Carolina the talk of our country—the whole country was talking about it—for its violent crime: the radical-left Democrat, Roy Cooper, on November 3. He's terrible.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. No, he's a murderer protector, and he let out 3,500 murderers and criminals. And we're going to elect one of the greatest men that I've ever worked with in government,
Michael Whatley, to go and become your United States Senator.
So nobody used to think of North Carolina as a dangerous State, criminally dangerous. It was, like, North Carolina. It was beautiful. It was apple pie, right? [Laughter] And now it's one of the most violent and one of the worst in the whole Nation. And it all started with Cooper, and you have a lousy Governor right now too. But it started——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. It started with Cooper.
I remember Cooper was your Governor when you had Helene, the—where they call it the biggest water hurricane. It was all water, and it was brutal. And I was here the following day. You remember that? But Cooper did nothing. He did nothing. Absolutely nothing.
And it took me—it took a few months because it—we were winning an election. And as soon as I got here on January 20, your Nation and your—your whole Nation, but your State started to heal from Helene. It was one of the worst hurricanes. Not in terms of a lot of things, but in terms of water, I think it has the record. Everything—areas that never saw water became
literally islands. They were separated by just tremendous amounts. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
And I have to tell you, Elon Musk—I called up; I said, "They all want Starlink, Elon." You couldn't get it. And I said: "You've got to do me a favor. Send me Starlink." And he sent hundreds of phones over Starlink. And that was what got—remember? Because people—you had islands. All of a sudden, you had islands out there, and they were separated by vast amounts of water.
You couldn't leave them. People were—had no communication.
I did. I called Elon, and they wanted to get them. You couldn't get them. And I called him, and he gave——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. ——he gave us immediately a tremendous boost by getting that. But Michael Whatley is the one that carried it forward.
Would do you have, a bad guy or a good guy over there? Huh?
Audience member. Bad guy!
Audience members. Boo!
The President. Where is he? Who is he? Show him to me. Show him. Let me see his face. Oh. Oh, it's a she. Hello. She's going home to mama, who's watching right now. Her mother is watching right now on television, furious at the daughter. She's going to walk, and she's going to get the hell spoken out of her. [Laughter] I won't say—but—and the worst offenders are the ones that Cooper released, including Decarlos Brown, Jr., who slashed——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. ——Iryna Zarutska in the neck. Nobody saw anything like that. I think it's maybe one of the most violent crimes we've ever seen.
And if you let it run a little bit on television—I didn't want to do it—but if you let it run, you see one of the worst things you've ever seen. And he was released out of jail. He was released by Cooper, your Governor. And many others were released too. Three thousand five hundred were released, but this was one of them. And you had others that they say—I don't know how anybody can be as bad, but they say they're has—just as bad.
But, in this election, I'm asking you to pretend I'm on the ballot just one more time. I said that the other night. [Applause] I said that the other night. Because when I'm on the ticket—I'm not bragging, but when I'm on the ticket, Republicans have always done really well. They go out, they vote, everybody gets elected. Everybody gets elected when I'm on.
But I just want you to go out and pretend I'm on the ticket because, essentially, I am. We got to win this election. If we don't, all of those things that we got you, from no tax on tips and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors and no tax on overtime, the overtime, no tax—I don't know which is the most important to you. A lot of people like no tax on Social Security for our seniors. But they're all going—they're all going go away. All of the things that we've done, the strongest border in the history of our country, it's all going to go away.
If we lose, you're going to lose your border, you're going to lose your tax cuts, you're going to lose your wealth, and our country is going to go through hell, and we're going to be a laughingstock all over the world, just as we were 2 years ago. We were a laughingstock all over the world.
So, on election day, November 3, vote to defeat the "Dumocrats." You know, I made the name change. I don't know what happened. I call them "Dumocrats" because their policies are so
dumb. All you do is take the "e," you replace it with a "u," and nobody knows that there's a "b." Nobody knows there's a "b" in "dumb." They think it's "d-u-m." So just think that. I say it's a one-letter change.
But they're "Dumocrats" because the worst policy: open borders, transgender for everybody, men playing in women's sports.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. But you're going to go and you're going to crush the Communists, and that's what they are. They're Communists.
Remember I said at the State of the Union, "We will not be a socialist nation." I was right.
They're going for communist nation. They're going right down to the bottom of the barrel.
For the people of North Carolina, this election is about safety and bad management, like what he did, like what Cooper did in the whole term that I was in, 4 years plus a year and a half. There has never been worse management of a storm or hurricane than Cooper in North Carolina. This is the worst anybody has ever seen. And you're not going to have him go because he doesn't represent your values, and I know you better than you know you, I think, I—
But his handling of the hurricane, the problem didn't get fixed until—and remember that—you go back and check your history books: It didn't get fixed until January 20. That's when I came in. And the first phone call I got—as soon as I got to the Oval Office, I said, "Oh"—it was Michael Whatley—he said, "President, do me a favor." They didn't do anything on—I mean, you people were living—they were living outside. They were living in mud. Terrible.
The first call I get, I'm walking into the office. "Sir, Michael Whatley is on the phone." I said, "What the hell does he want?" [Laughter] Give me a break. "What is it"—"Sir, you have to come down immediately to North Carolina. You've got to"—because Cooper didn't do anything. He just left it.
Remember the houses? If they had a Trump sign, which was almost all of them, that they wouldn't touch him. Remember that? That was Cooper. If it had "Trump" on it, you wouldn't touch them. They wouldn't touch them. It was—they were told, if it has a Trump sign—you know, "Vote for Trump" and all that stuff. They were still up. "Don't touch them," and they didn't.
But Whatley calls me. He says, "You have to get down here, sir, and you have to"—and I did. Right, Michael? I did. And if it wasn't for you, that call—[laughter]—maybe you'd still be living in mud. I'm not sure.
But it was Michael Whatley that got me to move my ass, Michael. That's why sometimes I don't like him. He's too aggressive. [Laughter] He actually—you know, I'm looking at him. He looks like such a nice man. He's not really that nice. He's a very effective man. He is a real ball breaker, let me tell you. [Laughter] But he's great.
Look, in terms of representation, which is what we care about, that's the guy you want, and he knows it. And he's strong on crime, strong on your economic world. He's fighting all the time. Everything he wants is really common sense and good for you. And borders. Nobody stronger on borders than you are, McGee. So I just want to thank you for the great job you've done. I hope they appreciate it. I hope they appreciate it.
And he's standing next to a man that's represented me in the past, and he was a great lawyer—like great, great, great lawyer. And Todd Blanche is now the Attorney General of the United States of America. And he's the best. He'll go down—a little early yet, Todd, to say. It's a little early yet, but you know, he got approved a couple of months ago. But so far, you're doing great, and I think he's going to go down—I know a lot of them. He'll go down as the greatest
Attorney General in the history of our country. I believe that. At a very important time. At a very important time, because there are a lot of bad people out there.
So, for years, pro-crime politicians like Roy Cooper have tried to bully you into silence while they turned your cities into blood-soaked killing fields, flooding your communities with migrant criminals, destroyed your schools with gangs and drugs, and filled your streets with lawlessness, filth, and squalor.
You think Joe Biden could say that? I don't think so. Think he could say that? No, he couldn't say that.
What we went through for 4 years. Think of it. The other guy couldn't sign his signature. "Would you please sign here, sir?" "Yes, I'll send that to an autopen." But those days are over. They're over.
President Trump and the Republicans in Congress are making America safe again. We're never going back to the disaster we had just 2 years ago. And right here in Charlotte, you've seen the deadly consequences of weak, cowardly sellouts to the radical left, like Cooper. He was a—he's radical left. You know, he tries to pretend he's a moderate. He's not. He's a radical-left, weak person. That's why—just don't forget—don't forget Helene. Lovely name, but not a lovely hurricane.
Last year, a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful 23-year-old woman—a young, beautiful girl named Iryna Zarutska, was riding home on a train in Charlotte after fleeing war-torn Ukraine. It was—she was petrified of Ukraine. But you know what? When she got on that train—I watched that so many times—when she got on that train, she was petrified to be on that train. She didn't want to be. She went there. She crawled up in the seat. She just wanted to hide. She was more scared being on that train in North Carolina than she was being in Ukraine with all the missiles and bombs.
But she didn't know that sitting behind her on the train was a deranged lunatic, a dangerous monster with 14 prior arrests for violent crimes, who set his bloodthirsty eyes on her right from the beginning. You saw the guy. I mean, the tape is—honestly, it's terrible.
That animal stood up, grabbed her around the neck, and slashed a knife right through her neck. And most people don't see the whole thing. I never—I did it once, and I wish I didn't. But they don't. They turn it off and—you know, frankly, the networks, they don't even put it on. You can't put it on. Most violent thing I've ever seen, I think.
Murdering her on that metro train where she died, terrified and all alone. And she knew what was happening. It was a slice, and she's looking up, and she said, "What happened?" And she was dead shortly thereafter.
The animal who murdered Iryna Zarutska should never have been on your streets. After 14 arrests, he should have been locked up for many, many years. But Roy Cooper released him. He said, "No, let's release him."
Under Cooper and the "Dumocrats'" no-cash-bail policy, that monster and countless others were set loose to prey on the people of North Carolina. That's why. I mean, I know North Carolina so well. So much crime here. National—I mean, it's on the national news. "In North Carolina, somebody was stabbed to death." "In North Carolina, somebody was shot." And I keep saying, "What's going on with North Carolina?" It's your Governors. It's your Governors, but it's Cooper. Cooper was really bad.
As Governor, Roy Cooper also cut a deal with radical activists to release, as I said, 3,500 inmates, some of the worst criminals in the Nation, into North Carolina. They came out of the
prisons, including savage criminals, hundreds of child predators, dozens of killers, murderers, and people serving life sentences. He released them.
And you could take a look at some of the mugshots. I don't know if you have a video, if you can see a video around here someplace.
Audience members. Yes.
The President. Yes, these are all mostly murderers and people of violent crime.
Those inmates who Roy Cooper released have since murdered 25 people, raped 99, and committed more than almost a thousand felonies. He released these people. This is just a small group of them. I think you have a few of—a few—a list, if you'd like to see some of the rest.
[At this point, a video was played.]
So that's what you get, and you see it. But there are many people like that terrible guy, that terrible, terrible person. You had many of them released by Roy Cooper. They're all over the streets. That's why you're reading about North Carolina all the time.
You know, it's amazing. We cleaned out Washington, DC, and I learned something. Two percent—think of it: 2 percent of the people create 91 percent of the crime. You can handle that. Think of it: 2 percent.
And we now have Washington, which was one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the United States—it was a violent, dangerous city. We removed 5,000 animals. But it was a dangerous, violent city. We removed 5,000 of them. And Washington, DC, is now one of the safest cities in the United States, our Capital, of America.
And Todd Blanche had a lot to do with it. We—think of it though, how great that is. Because if it was 25 percent do the—it was 2 percent of the people create 91 percent of the crime. We can handle that, and we did. We got 5,000 of them out. We have almost no crime. People can't even believe it. Now it's clean. It's beautiful. It's—the parks are up. The tents are all taken away from the parks. People are going there in record numbers. The restaurants are all open. The restaurants were closing. You couldn't go to a restaurant. It was too dangerous. And now people go into the restaurants like nothing.
Years ago in Massachusetts, there was a Governor named Dukakis—Michael Dukakis. You remember? Who had a very substantial lead for President. He was going to win easily. But he allowed a man named Willie Horton out of jail. Willie Horton was a bad guy. Really bad guy. It was same thing as this—same as—same exact thing. And on his first day out, he raped and murdered, raped and murdered, again and again. And he ended up killing three women.
Overnight, Dukakis took a rousing lead of 15 points and lost the election in a landslide because of that one advertisement. They put it on just like we're putting this on, because we have to make sure that Michael Whatley gets into office, not this guy. Got to make sure.
But remember that? Overnight, he had like a 15, 16, 17—it was over. The race was over, and he ended up losing the race because of that one incident, because he allowed a dirty, rotten killer to come out and rape and kill, and he did it a lot. He was a bad one. Same as—same as what you have over here. Same exact. Same thing.
But in a way, this is worse because Dukakis let Willie Horton out, but Cooper let Decarlos Brown out, plus 3,500 other hardened and dangerous criminals. Dukakis didn't do that. He let Willie Horton and a couple other people out. But this guy, this Governor, when he was Governor, he let out 3,500 people, many of them murderers.
You can either vote for Roy Cooper to set loose criminals who rape and murder your children and your population, or you can vote for Michael Whatley to protect and defend your children and your population.
So—and I say this because I know him. He's a great guy. He's a strong guy though. Strong. Michael Whatley is the candidate of law and order. It's all—think of this. It's bad enough with Roy Cooper, where he vetoed laws to ban sanctuary city. He vetoed laws on sanctuary—you're a sanctuary city. You know what a sanctuary city is? A sanctuary city is a place that protects criminals. And in North Carolina, you protect a lot of criminals. You don't protect your people. You protect your criminals.
And this year in Greenville, a violent gang of illegal alien sadists broke into a home, viciously attacked and sodomized a male victim, and ripped out his fingernails one by one. He said he's never experienced anything. It was so horrible.
In Fayetteville, a Haitian migrant flown in by Joe Biden, Sleepy Joe, Crooked Joe——
Audience members. Boo!
Audience member. Sleepy Joe!
The President. He's sleepy, and he's crooked. I never figured out which is better. They're both true.
Was arrested for stabbing to death a 77-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl, and a 4-year-old girl. Killed them all viciously, violently. Roy Cooper let him out.
Roy Cooper wants migrant criminals like these set loose on North Carolina streets with sanctuary city policies. Michael Whatley wants them executed, arrested, or deported.
And I didn't have to do this today. I'll be straight; I didn't have to. The great ladies of North Carolina know that. They've traveled all over the world. They follow me. At least—at least this time—look at them. At least—you're getting younger and younger. They've been doing this for a long time. At least this time you're close.
You know, when I'm in California and they're there, I said: "This is a very interesting situation. What's going on with the hubbies?" But there are a couple of hubbies back there.
But what great people. We've been together for a long time, right? They were there at the beginning from 2015, really, because it started before 2016. And have I gotten better, worse, or the same?
Audience members. Better!
The President. They said better. That's why I love them. Supposing they said "not as good, but you're still okay," that's not good. Even if they said "the same," I wouldn't be happy. [Laughter] But they've been my friends.
And over here you have Front Row Joes all over the place. You've got these Front Row Joes. Thank you. They've attended 348 rallies. They've attended, like, 250, 259, somebody told—259. And they're all happily married. Can you believe it? [Laughter] Keeps them happily married. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't—if you attended none, who the hell knows? But it can't be better than it is. But they're great people from North Carolina.
But Michael Whatley will support national legislation to end no-cash bail nationwide. You know, that's, Todd, where it all started. No-cash bail, where a person comes in, kills you, go to court, you let them out, no-cash bail. It started in New York, I think, but it was picked up here and elsewhere. It's terrible.
And he'll support mandatory pretrial detention for serial offenders and severe penalties for repeat offenders. Michael will also support the death penalty for human traffickers, large-scale drug dealers, and anyone who murders a police officer. Anyone.
And Michael Whatley is going to ban sanctuary cities. You're not going to have a sanctuary city in this State to protect criminals.
So a vote for Roy Cooper is a vote to give control of the U.S. Senate because that's ultimately—forget about him. He's not a leader or anything. He's got—but he's going to vote, and we can't lose that vote. It's too close. They'll turn around everything.
As an example, no tax on Social Security. They want to end it for your seniors. They want to end it. One vote could do it. You've got to get them in. It's a vote. It's a vote. He doesn't have to be a leader. He doesn't have—it's a vote. It's another vote they have. We can't do it. It's too close.
But it's a vote to give control of the U.S. Senate to the most extreme group of radicals ever to seek office. And you see some of these lunatics that are going to, maybe in some cases, be elected. Hard to believe. But certainly, they did well in the primaries. The primaries are a different thing, though. The primaries. They're Communists.
In State after State, "Dumocrats" have nominated Communists who have vowed to defund the police, close all prisons—they want to close the prisons; I think that's a great idea—[laughter]—abolish ICE, open our borders, and grant mass amnesty and voting rights to millions and millions of illegal aliens.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. Well, that's why they let them in. That's why they let them in because they want them to vote. That's the reason because it's the only thing you can think of. You wouldn't—they cheat so much. You wouldn't think they had to do that. But they let them in because they want them to vote.
You worked your entire life for everything you have. You saved your money, you followed the law, and now Roy Cooper and his band of Communists want to take everything you have and give it to people who would rob your house, invade your border, shoot your—just shoot you dead. They'll shoot you dead, then they'd go to sleep at night, wake up in the morning and not even remember that they killed you. They couldn't care less. They're animals. They're killers.
On election night, North Carolina is going to prove that America does not belong to those who hate it. America belongs to those who love it. They love it. Right?
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. So, while the "Dumocrat" Communists are trying to turn America into a crime-infested third-world country—which, by the way, if I didn't win this election, this country was finished. They were finished.
You know, we have more money coming into the country, over $20 trillion, with a "t", than—five times more than ever before. More than any country has had by four times. No country—it was China 10 years ago—no country has ever had anything like what's happening here, and you see it all over with the car plants being built. Everything is being built. The Trump administration is putting record numbers of dangerous offenders behind bars. I mean, I got elected partially on that. You know, we—I inherited the worst border in history, twice, in 2016.
But in 2016, it was good by comparison to what it was. Remember Kamala? She was your border czar.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. She was your border czar. Remember? She was appointed border czar. She never went to the border once, and she never made one phone call to any Border Patrol agent. Other than that, she did quite a good job, actually. [Laughter]
What a terrible person. What a terrible job she did.
Last year, we achieved the largest drop in violent crime ever recorded, while the murder rate fell to the lowest level in 125 years. That's 1900, 125 years. And that's despite the fact that we have people in our country that should not be here, but we got many of them out. We got—in a certain way, in terms of the violent ones, I'd say we got most of them out, so you don't have to worry too much, ladies, I hope.
And since I took office, Federal law enforcement has arrested an incredible 1.2 million criminals nationwide. That's a record. And we've increased Federal criminal prosecutions by over 50 percent. That's Todd Blanche.
With the help of our National Guard, we've also restored public safety to our Nation's Capital, and we have really done a job. Think of it. Think of it. People were petrified to go to our Capital, then they hated to see National Guard there. And these are central casting people. [Laughter] They're very good.
You know, we did win one thing in the Supreme Court. They've treated me quite badly.
Thank you. But we won one thing: merit. Everything now is based on merit. That's so important, because our country was built on merit.
I want to thank the heroes of ICE, Border Patrol, the DOJ, the FBI, DEA, ATF, HSI, the
U.S. Marshal Service, and every other branch of law enforcement helping bring crime to the lowest number in recorded history. Right?
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. Thank you very much.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. No, but I was going to say before—so I didn't have to be here tonight. It's a little bit before the election, but I had a little free time, if you can believe it. I said, "Let's go out. Let's get a little group together." How about this: Outside, you got twice the number as you have inside.
Next time, could you get a little bigger place, please, Michael? Do you mind? No, you got a lot of people outside, but I wanted to be here for Michael. I felt it—and I'll be back. I'm going to come back. We've got to make sure he wins.
But Michael was also an incredible champion for your State when you were hit with that terrible storm. The—the storm, you know, a lot of people call it, with Texas and Florida and all—they call it, from the standpoint of water, the worst hurricane they've ever seen. And I've gone over it. Roy Cooper was the Governor, and he did absolutely nothing. He fought it. He didn't want to do anything. He didn't do a damn thing.
And Whatley—and again, you've got to remember there's two things: crime and Helene.
Remember Helene. That name. Such a nice name. Such a vicious, violent storm. But he was the number one advocate, and I delivered. And also, your Congresspeople were fantastic. Republican Congresspeople, they came and they worked with Michael as hard. I've never seen anything like it. The Democrats didn't do a damn thing. The Republican Congresspeople came, and we got to be friends, really, fixing this place up.
And we spent more than $2 billion in FEMA funding. And, you know, you're waiting for some additional money to take care of some of the back, and I'm going to get that to you, Michael. Now, if Michael loses, I'm not sending it. Okay? [Laughter] No, I'm only kidding.
You're getting it. You're going to get it, Michael. So he's been bugging me. He's been bugging me.
But it's almost $3 billion for repairing roads and bridges that haven't been fixed yet by the Democrats. And we approved relief applications for almost 20,000 North Carolina small businesses. And I got to be very friendly with a lot of those small-business owners because I came here three times during that period. That was a terrible period of time. One of the worst I've seen.
I've seen tornadoes. I've seen hurricanes—I've seen it all. But that was one of the worst I've ever seen, where people were stuck on islands. It was—people that had very little water were stuck on islands, and they were stuck there for a long time. We had to have helicopters and things. A lot of people did a great job.
So I'd like to ask a man that I consider to be one of the best in any country, but one of the best in our country, one of the most talented people, one of the finest people, a truly nice man, but a truly competent man: Michael Whatley, please come up.
Mr. Whatley. You know, back in 2015, I got a call from Trump Tower asking me if I would help a businessman run for President in North Carolina. And at that time, he was at 1 percent in the polls. He was 15th out of 15 in that Republican primary. And I said yes.
I said yes because I watched that man come down the escalator, I watched that man say he was going to make America great again. And it wasn't just a pithy campaign slogan that he borrowed from President Reagan. It was a plan to rebuild our economy, to restore our borders and keep our communities safe, and make sure that America is the strongest, most respected nation on the face of the Earth.
And I said, "Yes, I'm with that guy." Here we are, 11 years later, and every single day, Donald Trump is fighting to make America great. And I am still with that guy, and I'm excited about running for Senate because I want every North Carolina family to make more money, to keep more money.
I want every community to be safe and secure. I want us to have the strongest Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard in the entire world.
I grew up in Blowing Rock, about an hour and a half from here, a tiny little town, 534 people. We had one stoplight and a Hardee's. Now they got three stoplights and an Outback. It's huge. [Laughter]
I went to church. I went to school. I worked. I got my first full-time job at 14. I worked all through high school, paid my way through college, paid my way through graduate school and law school.
Three weeks after I graduated from law school, I met Suzanne, and I fell head over heels in love. It took her a little longer.
We have been together 28 years since. We have three absolutely fantastic kids. Michael and George are here tonight. And they're in a great place to go do great things. You know what I call that? I call that the American Dream, and I've lived it right here in North Carolina.
And I'm running for Senate because I want every one of your kids and every one of your grandkids to live the American Dream, just like I have here in North Carolina.
And I am excited about fighting for North Carolina, for every family, for every community, and fighting alongside the greatest President of our lifetime, Donald J. Trump.
The President. Thanks, Michael. You're going to win, Michael.
So the Democrats gave us the dark age of America, and we turned it into the golden age. We're right now in the golden age of America. And that war is going to end very soon. Watch. You just watch. Trump was right about everything. [Laughter] You watch.
They're getting decimated, and they want to make a deal so badly. They call: "We want to make a deal. We want to make a"—and they're not ready yet, I don't think. But we could have a deal anytime we want.
And I've delivered on every single promise I made and far more than the promise. I made promises, but somebody wrote an article recently, "He actually did much more than what he promised," which is true.
But since the election, the stock market has set 80 alltime record highs. And here in North Carolina, we've created more than 80,000 jobs, and more Americans are working today—right now, we have more Americans working than at any time in the history of our country. That's a sound bite that nobody can argue with.
Just yesterday it was announced that real incomes have soared to the highest level in history, surpassing the record that I set in my first term. We lifted 1.5 million people out of poverty last year. The poverty rate for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans just hit an alltime record low. It was the lowest ever.
And for the Native American community here in North Carolina, I got the Lumbee Fairness Act done. And I hope the Lumbee Tribe is going to vote for Michael, because you've got to do that. So the Lumbees—I know you've got a lot of Lumbees here. I like the Lumbees, actually. But you've got to vote for Michael Whatley.
Less than 2 years ago, our country was dead. It was a dead country. And now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. We're all that anybody talks about.
The only problem we have is that interest rates are artificially high. Interest rates in the United States should be 1 percent or less because we are the best credit in the world by far. With all that money pouring in, our country is booming with new investment more than anybody else ever.
And if we stop trading with every country that we have a deficit with—which is most of them, and which would be very easy to do—we'd make at least $1.5 trillion a year. We do that because it's almost like a reflex.
The word "deficit," you have to understand, is nothing more than a fancy word for loss. So, we do these countries—we don't need anything for them. And do you ever notice they're considered elite? I don't want to mention the names. They're elite. They're only elite because we allow them to trade with us and we allow them to make far more money than they should be.
They're not elite. We're the ones that are elite. And if I ended those deals, you would see a country that would make more money, and you'd see the elite countries go right down the tubes.
We're carrying almost every country in the world, and that really cannot go on that much longer. I'm letting them know. I'm going to say that—can't do that. We just can't do it.
Why should we carry Canada? Why should we carry Mexico? Although, we're very close to a deal with Mexico—a great deal.
Why should we carry so many countries in Europe? We're carrying the European nations with a $200 billion deficit. All we have to do is say: "You know what? We're not trading with you anymore." We don't need anything they have.
We have cars. We have lumber. We have food. We have everything. It's a beautiful thing about—we have very few countries—there's some that we have certain things would—is helpful.
But lower the interest rates for the United States of America and fast, because we can grow at a level that nobody's ever grown before. You know, every time we start to grow—we announced great numbers last week. You saw that with the 162,000 jobs. It was, like, five times higher than projected. And I say, "That's bad news." They say, "Why?" I said, "Because the stock market will go down." Because every time you have good news, they raise interest rates." It's supposed to be the opposite—every time you have good news, you're supposed to lower interest rates because we become an even better credit.
But we're going to get it right, and we're going to go up at levels that nobody's ever seen.
The war is going to end soon, and we're going to get it up. We're working very hard to get Russia-Ukraine.
You know, I ended eight wars, and the one that's the toughest is because of hatred. I ended eight wars, and the one that's the toughest is Russia-Ukraine. The hate each—the two leaders hate each other so much, and it's so—you know, hatred is very interesting. War is very interesting. But it's too bad.
And that's what's driving—actually, that's the war that's driving up the diesel prices, but it's all going to end very soon, and you're going to end up having a country that nobody's ever seen before. Because, again, we have more jobs being created now and more factories being built than any time in the history of our country. It's going to be a beautiful thing, and it's going to be very soon.
With the help of Republicans in Congress, I signed the "Great Big Beautiful Bill," giving you the largest tax cuts in American history—giving you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax Social Security for our great seniors. We made interest on car loans—if you go out and buy a car, it's deductible against your income tax. First time that's ever happened. But only if the car is made in the good old U.S.A. Otherwise, we're not into it.
And in 4 years of Sleepy Joe Biden's administration, they got less than $1 trillion of new investment in our country. Think of it: 4 years, much less than $1 trillion, and it was going negative. In 1 year—and now it's "and a few months" because we have the new numbers for a few months, so it would be, actually, 1 year, and they went out for another 3 months—we have
$21 trillion. It was 19.2—now the next number.
Think of it. So they had less than a trillion of investment in our country for a period of a year, and we have $21 trillion—actually, more than that. Think of that: $21 trillion. We have $21 trillion in, essentially, 1 year, and they have, in 4 years, less than $1 trillion. That's a number that nobody's ever seen before. Maybe you won't see it again.
But very importantly, pharmaceutical companies are currently investing more than $600 billion to build their factories in the United States, and much of it—actually, I saw today, much of it right here in North Carolina. They're building in North Carolina.
And every single "Dumocrat" in Congress voted against our tax cuts. They voted against no tax on tips. They voted against no tax on overtime. They voted against no tax on Social Security for our seniors. The "Dumocrats" voted against funding for the border. They voted against voter ID, and they voted against proof of citizenship when you go to vote. They don't want it because they want to cheat.
They voted in favor of transgender everything, taxpayer-funded child mutilization——
Audience members. Boo!
The President. ——and men playing in women's sports. I mean, you figure that one.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. They say, "That's an 80/20 issue." No, that's a 99/1. That's a—and it's very demeaning to women, frankly
North Carolina, you cannot let Roy Cooper give you these horrible policies, these policies of weakness and stupidity. You have to get out and vote.
And that's why I say you've got to pretend I'm on the ballot. Just go. If I was on the ballot, I wouldn't have to be here tonight. We'd get everybody out. But some of you like me better than you like the party. The party's good. They've got great people in the party. They're sane people. They're people of common sense. It's a good party.
So—but we're thrilled to be—you have so many—not only Todd Blanche, but we have the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. He's a great guy too. He's done really good. Bill Pulte.
Where's Bill? Bill, wow. Bill Pulte's around here someplace. Thank you, Bill. Thank you very much.
The mayor of Gastonia, Richard Franks. What a good guy he is. Because we put this together very quickly. We put this together—where is he? What a nice guy he was. He said, "Sir"—what a good job you did. Thank you very much, Mayor.
You know, we gave him about a day notice. [Laughter] We said—I said, "Let's go out and campaign for Whatley," and the mayor was there. Thank you very much, and your friends—that's fantastic. I met them backstage.
The president of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, Chet Effler. Chet. Thank you, Chet. Great job, Chet.
And the Chief of the Catawaba [Catawba; White House correction] Nation, Brian Harris. Thank you, Brian. Nice to meet you, Brian. You'd better get out there, Brian. Get all of them, along with the Lumbees.
We will also have our candidate for the First Congressional District, Laurie Buckhout. And I will tell you, she's fantastic. She's running against a radical-left "Dumocrat" named Don Davis.
Davis voted in favor of taxes on Social Security. He voted in favor of deadly sanctuary cities. He voted against no tax on tips. He fought no tax on tips. And by the way, if they get in, they're going to end it. He voted against no tax on overtime. He voted against no tax on Social Security. He voted for the sexual mutilization of your children. Not good.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. So, Laurie, on the other hand, has my complete and total endorsement. She's fantastic.
And so does—and so does Jennifer Balkcom. So Jennifer—from the Eleventh District, Jennifer Balkcom. And she's running against Democrat Jamie Ager, who wants to massively raise taxes on 70,000 working families in her Eleventh District. She [He; White House correction] wants to raise your taxes. And she [he; White House correction] also wants to do all of the things that we don't want.
So, Jennifer and Laurie, come up just for a second, please. So important that we get them in. Thank you, darling.
North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout. Oh, gosh. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I walked up, and I just said, "Gosh, I love you." Thank you, sir. [Laughter] We all do.
Mr. President, ever since 2014, you have been on the radar. I just want to say very quickly: I had a—my father died in 2015 at the age of 95. World War II, Korea, Vietnam, infantry officer, POW, and just my guiding star. And next to loving me, he loved who he saw the future President of our Nation.
So, sir, big—big fan of yours.
Thank you, Mr. President, for making us safe, for making us strong, for making us healthy and for making us proud.
Sir, I'm running because I'm sick of career politicians, and I'm a warrior. I would like to say that when I was fighting in Iraq, Don Davis was just beginning his 25-year stint as a political professional. That's all he is.
He's an empty suit. He's done nothing for this district. We call him "Do Nothing" Don.
And, Mr. President, I'd like to tell you that our district has voted for you overwhelmingly six times. And, sir, it's time that you had a loyal, hard-working, conservative Army colonel on your back down there, and that's who I'm going to be.
North Carolina Republican congressional candidate State Representative Jennifer Balkcom. Yes, let me just say thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for closing our borders. Thank you for being—keeping us safe. Thank you, most personally, for keeping boys and men out of women's sports. Yes.
Thank you for signing the HALT Fentanyl. Thank you for protecting our kids from mutilation. Thank you. As a mom, I thank you. Thank you, as a woman. Thank you, as a small-business owner, for what you've done for small businesses.
And this Western North Carolina farm girl is going to represent us well in Washington.
Thank you so much.
The President. Wow, that's great. We are—vote those—they're just terrific people, and they're a little new to the scene. Not really. They're known and respected in your State. But I just hope that you vote for them because they are fantastic people, and the choice is really very simple for you. You see what I'm saying. I mean, it's—their competition is horrendous.
The Democrats gave you a 4-year catastrophe, including the highest inflation in history. You had the highest—you know, they came up with these words about pricing and affordability.
Remember? "Affordability."
The first day I got in, it was January 20. The next day I had a news conference, January 21. And it was Biden's thing, and they said, "What are you going to do about affordability?" It was a word I'd never heard, politically speaking. It was a word they made up. They passed it on to the fake—wow, that's a lot of fake news. Look at that. [Laughter] That's a lot. That's a lot of fake news.
But they passed it on to the fake news, and I got hit with this "affordability" word for a year and a half, and they're the ones that caused the affordability problem. Remember that? It was on January 21, "Eggs have gone up five times, sir." I said: "I just got here. I've been here one day." We took care of the egg crisis. And we take care of everything.
We also took care of the fact that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. It will not have a nuclear weapon.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. Thank you.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. Thank you very much.
So, no, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. And you know, I don't—I'm the last one to say, because we had gasoline down to $1.85. In Iowa, it was $1.85 a gallon. I was there the day before I had to do this, I had to make this journey over there. Remember, we hit them with the B–2 bombers. We took out the nuclear capacity, but then we had to go back, hit them again.
And I said—you know, I told my guys—Scott Bessent, Howard, all of my people, Todd, everybody—I said: "We've got to make a little journey down to the Middle East because we can't let this crazy nation have a nuclear weapon," and we stopped them. And, to be honest—it's going to end soon. But—because they can't go on. They can't go on. They—their nation's destroyed.
But I have to say, you have a little higher—you have a higher gas—it's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that. It's a little more. It's—even if it was—frankly, even it was a lot more. But that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship in reverse.
And don't forget: They never want to talk, the fake news, about Venezuela. We took out Venezuela in 48 minutes, and now we have all our big oil companies going there, and we're working along with the Government of Venezuela very well. The relationship is extraordinary. We're taking out millions and millions of barrels of oil, and I can't get the press to talk about it, because they don't want to talk about it because they've never seen anything like it before.
When they say, "To the victor belong the spoils," that's one of the greatest cases anyone's ever seen in history. We paid back the cost of our war many times over.
And you watch what's going to happen—Iran. It's going to be a really good conclusion. It's going to—and it's going to happen—it's going to—I say it's going to be a little bit after the election, but maybe not. Maybe it's before the election.
But when you look at it, it is—where we have the Strait open, we have all this thing, and they've been decimated. Their navy's gone. Their air force is gone. Think of it: Their navy—159 ships—every one of them is at the bottom of the sea. Every one of them.
Our military is there. We put on a blockade, the likes of which no—not one ship—in all the months that it's been, not one ship going to Iran has gotten through that blockade. Not one. So I just want to thank our military, say God bless our military because they're the greatest in the world.
And that will end soon, and you watch what happens to your oil, to your gasoline. Pew. It's going to come down very quickly. I had it down to the lowest level in years.
I had a choice: I could have sat back and enjoyed it, or I could have done what's the right thing for—I see these young children in the audience—but if they had a nuclear weapon, it would be a very bad thing, a very dangerous thing. And they would have used it, absolutely, without question. I've gotten to know them; they would have used it. So we did the right thing.
On January 20, we inherited the worst border in U.S. history, and we quickly turned into—we took that border, we turned it into the most secure border, by far, in the history of our country.
In the past—and this is actually sort of hard to believe, but it's the—you know, the Democrats are—they're inclined "D." You know what inclined "D"—they make up the stats.
In the past 16 months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted into the United States of America. Who would have thought that was possible? Who would have thought that was possible?
And under my most-favored-nation policy on drug prices—we paid the highest price for drugs anywhere in the world—we're delivering the largest prescription drug price cuts in recorded history, with discounts of 70 percent, 80 percent, and even 90 percent. And by the way, that alone should win us the midterms. Remember that. That alone.
No, but we paid—think of it: For years and decades, we paid the highest prices for prescription drugs anywhere in the world. Now we pay the lowest price anywhere in the world.
And I won't go into you with the boring details, but I did a big number. I had to do it, and a lot of countries had to agree to things that they didn't want to agree to, but they did.
We're making the largest ever investment in the United States Armed Force, and we have the—and by the way, you have a lot of that money coming right here. And we have the strongest and most powerful military anywhere in the world. There's nobody even to compete.
And with our new and powerful relationship with Venezuela, we just made the largest oil deal in history and, I think, the largest deal in history. We got 65 billion barrels of beautiful oil—500 years' worth of oil. Sixty-five billion—think of it—billion barrels of oil. We got it for what? An attack. We got it for an attack.
And remember, if the Republicans win the House and Senate, I will issue what we will all call from now on the "Trump dividend." To—every adult in America will get $5,000. And you'll get it because we're taking in so much money. And we can do it, and the Democrats can't say that because they don't do the tariffs. We—tariffs have made us rich. You've heard me many times talk about tariffs.
I said, "The favorite word in the dictionary," and the fake news killed me with that. "What about the Lord? What about your wife? What about your family? What about so many other things?" So I made it number five, and now they're happy. So "tariff" is my fifth-favorite word.
But we took in billions and billions and billions of dollars in tariffs, so we can make a pledge, but they can't, because if they get in, this country will go into a massive depression. They don't know what the hell they're doing. We're going to have a depression like you've never seen.
So—and for those who say that it would be difficult to do, it's not difficult to do, because, if you remember, the more—money is pouring into our country right now, but if you remember, we will go and do things that nobody else has been able to do.
They said that the "Great Big Beautiful Bill" could never be approved. It's 17 bills that we got. It was supposed to be 17 separate bills, and it was supposed to be approved over a long period of time. They said it would be impossible to do it in one, and I came up with the name. I call it the "Great Big Beautiful Bill." I like it better than the name. The "Great Big Beautiful Bill"—we got it approved, and that's 4 years' worth of goodies.
Now we're getting more. Now we're getting much more. Mike Johnson is doing a fantastic job. Doing a fantastic job.
And remember, also, for the military here, $1,776—remember?—$1,776, and it was—so, it came to my desk. I wanted to get a bonus for the military, so it came out to my desk. "Sir, we can give $1,775." I looked at the number, and I said, "Wait a minute. For $1 more, it's 1,776," which is pretty good.
I was quite impressed with my intelligence. I'm a high-IQ person, after all.
No, I looked at the number. I said, "Wait a minute, $1 more, and we're 1,776." Everyone said it was impossible to get our military that number. I got that—[inaudible].
I am going to get, for all adults—Democrat, Republican—all adults in our country—and you deserve it with what you had to do and how you had to suffer for 4 years under Biden. We're going to get you—if we win, we're going to get you $5,000. So that's it. Very simple. Very simple.
I will also make the Trump tax cuts, the largest tax cut in history—we're going to make the Trump tax cuts—again, that's no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security for our seniors—we're going to make it permanent. We're going to put it into law. So, when the radical left—at some point, maybe they get in—these lunatics, if they get in—we hope they never get in. They'll destroy our country. But if they get in, they will terminate it. We're going to make it permanent so they can't terminate it.
We'll win the war on fraud, led by our great Vice President, J.D. Vance, sometimes referred to—[applause]—sometimes referred to as Eliot Ness of the fabled Untouchables.
And we'll pass the No Invasion of Our Country Act—we have a—an act that we're putting up—prohibiting any future President from ever opening our borders to illegal immigrants again. Think of that.
We'll pass the No More Changing Your Clocks Act. We're going to change—no more of that double crazy. Not the biggest, but I'll tell you, it's something. So we don't have to change your clocks twice a year. Remember? Up, down. "Oh, let's go all over the house, change the clocks." [Laughter] It's crazy.
And we will pass a health care plan that will be the greatest of them all, which will stop all payments to the big insurance companies, which own the Democrats, by the way. The big insurance companies own the Democrats. And we'll give the money that would go to them—we're going to give it directly to you, the people, so you can buy your own health care and have a lot of money left over, and it will be better health.
And we will immediately end no-cash bail, and we will pass the SAVE America Act to defend our sacred American elections, which will make mandatory voter ID and proof of citizenship.
And we will enshrine in permanent law no men in women's sports and no transgender mutilization of your children.
So, ladies and gentlemen of North Carolina—a place that I really do love; I love it—the golden age of America is upon us, but you must get out and vote and vote for Michael Whatley and those two incredible potential Congresspeople. They're going to be great. They're going to be warriors—they're warriors. I know them from before. They're warriors.
And with your help, we will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And, most importantly, we will make America great again.
Thank you all very much. Thank you, North Carolina. God bless you. God bless you. Thank
you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 7:29 p.m. at the Gastonia Municipal Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Joshua H. Stein of North Carolina; Elon R. Musk, chief executive officer, chief
technical officer, and chairman, SpaceX; Decarlos Brown, Jr., suspect in the stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte Area Transit System light-rail train in Charlotte, NC, on August 22, 2025; Pedro Miguel Vivanco, Kevin Eduardo Morales Lara, John Carlos Calderon, Zaid Mayen-Esteban, and Jonathan David Garcia-Larios, who were arrested and charged with burglary, assault, kidnapping, and forcible sexual offenses stemming from their suspected home invasion in Greenville, NC, on February 11; Mackendy Darbouze, charged with three counts of first degree murder in the stabbing deaths of Béatrice Désir, Gloria Darbouze, and Garmaelle Joseph in Fayetteville, NC, on February 21, 2025; former Vice President Kamala D. Harris; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine; Secretary of Commerce Howard W. Lutnick; and Speaker of the House of Representatives J. Michael Johnson. He also referred to his daughter-in-law Lara L. Trump, in her former capacity as cochair of the Republican National Committee; H.R. 139; and S. 1383. Mr.
Whatley referred to his daughter Mary Kate. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on September 17.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : North Carolina Republican senatorial candidate Michael D. Whatley, campaign rally in Gastonia, NC.
Locations: Gastonia, NC.
Names: Ager, Jamie; Balkcom, Jennifer; Bessent, Scott K.H.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Blanche, Todd W.; Brown, Decarlos, Jr.; Buckhout, Laurie; Calderon, John Carlos; Cooper, Roy A., III; Darbouze, Mackendy; Davis, Donald; Dukakis, Michael S.; Effler, Chet; Franks, Richard; Garcia-Larios, Jonathan David; Harris, Brian; Harris, Kamala D.; Horton, William R.; Lutnick,
Howard W.; Mayen-Esteban, Zaid; Morales Lara, Kevin Eduardo; Musk, Elon R.; Pulte, William J.; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Stein, Joshua H.; Trump, Lara J.; Vance, James D. "J.D."; Vivanco, Pedro Miguel; Whatley, Michael D.; Zelenskyy, Volodymyr.
Subjects: 2024 Presidential election; 2026 midterm elections; Attorney General; Border security; Cashless bail, efforts to eliminate; Consumer prices; Crime rates; Criminal justice system, reform efforts; Diesel fuel prices; District of Columbia, law enforcement improvement efforts; Economic improvement; Federal Housing Finance Agency; Gasoline costs; Household income and wages; Immigration reform; Interest rates; Iran, commercial transit through Strait of Hormuz; Iran, nuclear weapons development; Iran, U.S. military operations; Job creation and growth; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; National Guard; North Carolina, 2025 stabbing death on Charlotte light-rail train; North Carolina, Catawaba Nation; North Carolina, Governor; North Carolina, Hurricane Helene damage and recovery efforts; North Carolina, Lumbee Tribe, Federal recognition; North Carolina, President's visit; Pharmaceutical supply chains, improvement efforts; Poverty reduction efforts; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act; Secretary of Commerce; Secretary of the Treasury; Special warrior dividend; Sunshine Protection Act of 2025; Tariffs; Tax Code reform; Ukraine, President; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Venezuela, oil supply and refining; Venezuela, relations with U.S.; Venezuela, U.S. military capture and exfiltration of President Maduro; Vice President; Voter participation.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600614.