North Carolina

Gastonia: a special place, then blood-soaked. Whatley got the hangar. Cooper got the smear.

Trump for Michael Whatley. Crime 31st in the nation. He called it the worst. Pretend I’m on the ballot.

The Rocket News · States · Gastonia, N.C.September 17, 2026 · 4 min read

The hangar at Gastonia Municipal Airport, Making America Safe Again, crowd and stage in color. Wire photograph.

President Trump took Gastonia Municipal Airport for Michael Whatley on Wednesday night. “Hello, North Carolina. This special place. I love it.” Two minutes later the cities were “blood-soaked killing fields,” the state “one of the worst in the whole nation.” He blamed Roy Cooper, the Democrat in the Senate race, and the governor now. The States desk files a rally that loved the state and then buried it.

U.S. News ranks North Carolina 31st of 50 for violent crime. The FBI will not rank the states that way. Trump said it anyway. He spoke an hour: crime, the economy, the Congress, the fans. Laurie Buckhout, Jennifer Balkcom on the ticket. Pretend I’m on the ballot, he said. He has won the state six times, primaries included.

Nobody used to think of North Carolina as a dangerous state.

Video

President Trump held rally in Gaston County for Republican Michael Whatley · WBTV News - Charlotte · Watch on WBTV News - Charlotte

The great Mexico deal came from the same hangar. The States desk files North Carolina as it is: a Senate race, a smear, and a president who needed the state to look like a win.

Wire and further reading: newsobserver.com

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