Trump stops in Asheville to see Helene damage ahead of eastern NC rally

Former President Donald Trump travels to Asheville on Oct. 21, 2024, to deliver remarks to the press and see the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
Posted 10/21/2024, 3:42:18 PM Updated 10/21/2024, 5:58:06 PM

A little bit better crew and to uh do a

better job than has been done by the White House

It's been not good not good

I'm here today in Western North Carolina to express a

simple message to the incredible people of the state

I'm with you and the American people are with you

all the way

We're gonna continue to be with you

We'll see what happens with the election and we uh

on January 20th you can have a I think a

new crew coming in to do it properly and help

you in a proper manner to every family that lost

loved one or a loved one

This terrible storm we ask God to give you strength

and comfort and peace

You will have comfort and peace

It's been a terrible ordeal in this area was hit

about as hard as anybody has ever seen to all

those homes and your homes have been destroyed

Many of you are rebuilding and many of you are

going to just start all over again and the communities

were ravaged and destroyed

We are praying for you and we will not forget

about you

We will never forget about you

We are going to be working with you for a

long time to come to get it back together

When I am president I will stand with you until

the communities are fully rebuilt

Every single inch of every property will be fully rebuilt

Greater and more beautiful than it was before you gonna

have better

What happened to this neighborhood and the communities all across

North Carolina South Carolina Florida Alabama Virginia

Tennessee was an act of absolute devastation

Helene's vicious floodwaters tore wives from the arms of their

husbands

Mud slides buried the entire families and buried entire families

Grandparents died alongside their grandchildren homes towns farms roads bridges

schools throughout the region

They now lie in ruin so beautiful so beautiful an

area so beautiful

It was but it will be more beautiful but you

can never forget the death the death

All of America shares your sorrow and your grief

Over the past few weeks this region has seen an

extraordinary hardship but in the midst of such terrible tragedy

we have also seen the extraordinary love that binds us

together as Americans and it does indeed

I want to thank our great first responders

I they've never let us down

They never this was a tough one but they never

let us down

And the emergency personnel who leapt into action with such

great heroism including the incredible firefighter and his nephew who

lost their lives trying to save their neighbors

A lot of heroes really developed with this that we

talked about for a long time to come

They will not be forgotten

Thanks also to the many wonderful charities and service organizations

that have uh become so familiar to so many

The burden of the response has been incredible in the

wake of this horrible storm

Many Americans in this region felt helpless and abandoned and

left behind by their government

And yet in North Carolina's hour of desperation the American

people answered the call much more so than your federal

government

Unfortunately citizens poured into western North Carolina from all over

the country bringing food water fuel medical aid even helicopters

and their own uh rescue standards started and they started

at a very high level credible what they've done

Having no experience they learned very quickly but they have

helped so much

Nothing is more inspiring than to see the American spirit

triumph over adversity with the most selfless acts of generosity

and love

One of the patrons who stepped forward to help was

Adam Smith a former green beret

Adam transformed the parking lot of a Harley Davidson dealership

into a makeshift airbase to help distribute supplies

Did an incredible job Adam what an amazing act of

citizenship and service

And I think Adam might be here

Where's Adam Adam Come on up here say a few

words Adam thank you very much

Thank you very much

Great job

I've seen him on television quite a bit

What a job you've done

Thank you

Can I give you something for us Thank you

This little Token podcast

Thank you

That's been with us since the third day

That's for you

And this is the moniker they've given us

Thank you very much

Thank you Mr President

I appreciate it

I just want to say thank you for coming

Thank you for everybody here

The biggest fear that Western North Carolina is sitting on

right now at least from the communities we've talked to

is being forgotten and to have you here and have

an opportunity to have this conversation at a national level

will keep Western North Carolina on the map and not

leave the communities holding the bag on the back end

of this

So we're very grateful that you've shown up and we're

very grateful that you've taken the time

We're also appreciative in the timeline that you did

It gave us space to operate and function and gave

us space to provide relief where it needed to go

And we're very grateful for that Mr President

Thank you very much sir

Thank you very much

We're also joined by Brian Burpo owner of Diamondback four

by four where we are today

And Brian you have a very interesting story to tell

Do you mind telling it Thank you

So I got a phone call from uh my general

manager and uh he said well the building's underwater and

I couldn't believe it because the river is so far

away from us and I thought he was just playing

a joke or whatever else but we finally made our

way to the building and um I couldn't believe what

I saw when I got off the swan no exit

We lost bridges

We've lost businesses we lost homes we've lost people

The devastation here is just not anything I would have

ever imagined

So I think all of the first responders all of

the nonprofit organizations that have come to our aid to

help with the machinery and the people the hands the

boots on deck

I I just it's amazing

I am overwhelmed by generosity and even with everything that's

going on in our country today for the past three

weeks that was put to the side and everybody joined

together and lent a hand

Um Some people couldn't be here so they sent their

contributions uh with somebody else and they indirectly helped that

Uh We we need those people still

We need that support

Um We're good on water though

We got plenty of water so we're good on water

But um we have pallets of water laying around if

anybody needs water

But um we we are are very humbled and honored

that uh that you guys keep us in your in

your minds and in your prayers uh we're gonna need

that for quite some time

So as there are still families that are displaced from

each other uh pray pray for peace for those folks

some peace of mind

Um Mr President I can't thank you enough for coming

out

I've had it in the back of my mind

I just I even made a comment to somebody Trump

would just show up

Trump would just show up

We need it we need that shot of hope in

the arm

We need that

Uh We need to know we're going to be ok

and not forgotten

You won't be

Thank you

You

Thank you very much

Great job

And Mike Stewart the owner of Pine View Buildings is

here Mike

Mike please

Yeah we uh we had a business right across the

street like with the Swan river flowing on the backside

of it

And uh we lost everything

We had 70 plus buildings and we drove here two

days later and there wasn't one building that was ours

but there were houses and trailers and tankers and all

sorts of things that were strewn across our property and

we lost a business

But there are a lot of people who who lost

everything including loved ones

And I believe that you can serve as a great

inspiration to this community right now

And the reason being is I think God's given you

an indomitable spirit and no matter what gets thrown at

you um You find a way to press through and

I think that will serve as an inspiration to this

community to press on and move forward

Um I can't think of anything I'd rather have than

a a warrior leading our country a warrior who with

the help of God and with faith and prayer will

lead this community these communities and this country uh to

greatness

So thank you for being here today

I never heard that was from the heart

No speech writer could write that if you don't mind

just because my heart is about to be like do

you mind if I pray for you Ok

So and all those of you that are prayers would

you join with me in this prayer Father I thank

you for this man that you have raised up in

this moment in this season for your purposes

And I pray that you would anoint him that things

aren't done just by might or by power but by

your spirit

So I ask that you anoint President Donald Trump and

give him a spirit of wisdom and understanding and insight

as he moves to lead this nation back to greatness

Jesus name

I pray

question

Wow that's something you don't hear that often

It's incredible and I appreciate that from both and from

everybody

That's really nice

Um I would I would like to thank some of

the people that have come

Senator Ted Butt who's been so fantastic a great senator

and uh become a very popular senator too highly highly

respected in Washington DC and he's here and I'd like

him just to say a couple of words Ted if

you don't mind please come on up

like Stone Mike

I want to thank you for your prayers uh for

the president and for this region because uh people who

first looked at this and they said this might be

days or weeks but this is gonna take months and

years

And Mr President I'm grateful for you coming here and

I want you all to know as the president and

I spoke and I spoke with his team

He was like when can we come to North Carolina

I said soon Mr President but there's a lot of

work to be done and nobody understands that like a

builder how to build or in this case how to

rebuild something

So Mr President I appreciate you coming here your heart

for the people your love for them

And um it's going to take a lot of work

for Western North Carolina and I don't think anybody that's

running for office understands it as well as you do

So thank you for coming for your understanding for your

love for this country

And we look forward to making what's a great area

greater

Once again God bless you

Thank you

Interestingly I came actually right after the storm I'd like

you to know that and I came to North Carolina

but uh this was so rough so bad

We couldn't come in

I didn't want to come in actually because I want

you to do what you had to do

I didn't want to be in anybody's way but we

were in North Carolina immediately right after the storm

1st 1st 1

And uh I said you got to let him just

work for a little while and believe it or not

a lot of progress has been made

You look at uh how it is hard to believe

but a lot of progress has been made

So it was an honor to to be here very

early

Thank you very much also uh along with the senator

who really has been doing fantastically

Well I'm proud of him

Representatives Chuck Edwards and Virginia Fox

You ok let's check this

Well thank you Mr President

Thanks so much for taking the time to come to

Western North Carolina

We've seen other folks do a flyover

It is uh so heartening to see you here with

some dust on your shoes actually seeing what's taken place

It means so much to the folks here whose lives

have been turned upside down whose homes have been destroyed

whose lost loved ones whose businesses have been destroyed

Uh We're so incredibly honored that you're gonna help keep

the emphasis on us rebuilding this this beautiful community for

those of you who uh who did not get to

see it I offered uh because you know I also

own mcdonald's restaurants

I know that you perfected your skills behind the counter

a day or so ago

And uh it was my honor to present uh President

Trump with the uh French Fry certification P

Uh So thank you so much for being here

God bless you

Thank you

Well thank you very much

Um Tim Moore is here

You're very special uh house speaker and he's been a

great friend of mine for a long time and thank

you very much for for uh where are you Tim

Thank you Mr President

Well I'll just say as the speaker of the State

House I've not gotten a single call from the White

House but this man and his team have been in

touch with us from day one and Mr President I

appreciate that and looking forward to seeing you back in

the White House

Thank you sir

I appreciate it

And Shane Hilliard you're wonderful sheriff

Appreciate it

Great job

You've been busy I guess a little bit a little

bit busier than you're supposed to be

Thank you Sheriff and a friend of ours Linda mcmahon

who has been incredible

She was in charge of the small business group in

Washington and it was actually a big business and she

did incredibly

They told me the other day you were the best

there ever was at that and we appreciate it very

much

Great job

Thank you very much Linda

I also want to thank everyone who supported the gofundme

We set it up right after the storm left almost

immediately and I authorized a lot of people to help

and those affected by hurricane Helene uh were badly affected

and nothing can really take uh really make amends for

what happened especially when it came to the death the

property you're gonna end up having bigger and better and

nicer and everything

But the death was horrendous

And to date we raised $8 million of which 7

million has been distributed to the various charities that are

helping you and the rest is going to go

And if you people have some recommendations I'd like to

have them

Uh we helped Franklin Graham he's done such a great

job

Uh and some of the others that have done a

great job

And uh if you have recommendations I'd like to have

them because we have more coming and we have more

already in the till

So we raised $8 million which is great

That's contributions from a lot of great people

Ok

But give us give us those recommendations if you would

I'd like to take them and do it the way

you'd like to do

Right

Thank you very much

We've distributed these funds directly to uh the organizations already

Uh and there's going to be a lot of additional

funds coming

I believe today I'm promising the people of the state

that when I am president if I'm president I feel

better saying that because you never want to take something

like that for granted

I feel actually a little bit better they always say

oh please please don't say that sir say when we

have to vote and they have to get out and

vote and we can't have four more years of what

we've just had that I can tell you but uh

I will support and totally complete the rebuilding of every

region and town and city that was devastated by the

hurricane and I will slash through every bureaucratic barrier that

you're having already and having problems with right now I

understand pretty badly to help you get back on your

feet

And I will personally recruit businesses from all over the

world to help restore the prosperity to the region

They'll be moving in

They're going to be a lot of businesses businesses are

going to be moving back to our country through the

proper use of taxation incentives and uh tariffs

One of the most beautiful words that nobody understands or

very few people understand he understands it but we're going

to be uh using tariffs and good proper tax uh

taxation and very importantly incentives

And we're going to have a lot of people moving

back to your state and this region but your state

they're going to be very interested in North Carolina will

stop throwing our money overseas and we're going to let

our country benefit

We're going to put America first

It's time we put America first

We've been helping countries for 50 years

We've been helping them for 50 years

Never stops and when we need help from them they're

not there

So that's the way it is

But it's vital that we not let this hurricane that

has taken so much

Also take your voice

You must get out and vote

The polls are open for early voting every day between

now and November 2nd

And you know the thing that amazes me most is

areas such as this and others uh where there's it's

so hard to vote

People have lost their homes

They've sometimes lost members of their family

Do you know they've set a record in voting Can

you believe it I mean last year everything was beautiful

Perfect

No problem

They beat last year they beat they beat every record

and presidential records to your voting records have all been

beaten and people I don't know I don't even know

where they are living their house is gone and and

they were standing in line ready to vote

So you have you have amazing you have amazing people

here Michael

Really amazing

One of them is Michael Watley

He was the head of your Republican party

He was so good and did such a great job

We won the state twice but he did such a

great job

I said that's the guy I want because he was

very uh very much into stopping the steal

We don't want to steal

We want a fair election an honest election and you

got it here

He actually hired 603 lawyers

Can you imagine that And I said who is that

guy That's the guy I want

And now he heads the whole party the whole shebang

and now I can blame him if something happens

And I'll say well I made a mistake I'll send

him back I'll send him back

But I don't think that's going to happen based on

what we're hearing from early returns which are really phenomenal

The early returns are phenomenal

Uh If you had to relocate because of the storm

you do not have to return to your home county

You can request a ballot for your temporary housing location

but you need to make sure you do it today

Today is your last day

So get out and get that done and vote

But so far you've really been I don't have to

talk to anybody

They setting literally setting records with this kind of devastation

I think it's an amazing tribute

That's an amazing tribute that that something like that could

happen

So to everyone here in North Carolina we love you

together

We'll pull it through

We we bless you and God bless you and God

bless America

We're gonna we're gonna make our our nation stronger and

better more beautiful and a more joyful to use a

phrase from somebody else that doesn't really believe it but

we're going to make it a more joyful place

We're going to do things that nobody thought we're possible

We're gonna have we're gonna have our country back

We're gonna grab our country

We're going to take it back

We're a nation in decline

We're not going to be a nation in decline for

much longer that I can tell you

And we're going to make America great

Again

Very simple

It's a very simple slogan

It's the greatest movement in the history of our country

We are going to make America great

Again I'd like to ask if I might Michael Watley

to come up and say a few words

He's been working about 29 hours a day I would

say on average right He's been working very hard and

uh please come up and say a few hours

Thank you Mr President

You know as a son of Western North Carolina I

was in Watauga County with Samaritan's purse recently and got

a chance to see the devastation uh that all of

these communities have hit

I think it is tremendously important that you are here

I think that uh you uh in your focus on

making sure that Western North Carolina is not going to

be forgotten is absolutely critical

I am so thankful for the thousands upon thousands of

volunteers that have come into Western North Carolina to help

these families to help every family here in Western North

Carolina

You cannot put words on what a value it is

and the fact that this is a strong community this

is a community of faith and this is a community

of family and North Carolina Western North Carolina is absolutely

going to be back

They are going to be stronger than ever

And with your leadership we will make sure that this

part of the state that this part of the country

is never forgotten and will be back again

Thank you Mr President

Thank you

MC

Thank you very much

And uh I'm also a North Carolinian but I'm from

the eastern part of the state

I grew up in New Bern

So we were used to the storms down there

But for this storm to come up the trajectory that

it did into this area was nothing short of just

astounding that that happened

And I'm so sorry you know I had the privilege

of a lifetime of serving at the SB a administrator

under President Trump

And I can tell you that SB A would have

been on the ground with Fe Ma in this area

working to get people back in their businesses getting their

home loans processed because we'd want the economy to get

back on track

So hopefully you're gonna have that service if you don't

have it now you will

Thank you very much Mr President

Thank you

Do you have any questions please please mo

asking means so that more federal funding can be brought

to us master colleagues

Well I would be in favor of it

Yeah this is a very unusual situation

And I would be in favor of it now you

know in theory they're supposed to have it but they

spent a lot of money on bringing illegal migrants people

that came into our country illegally uh and taking them

in and all of the money they've spent numbers that

nobody can even believe

So

They don't have any money for the people that live

here

They got hit by one of the worst storms possibly

the worst storm ever but one of the worst storms

in the history of our country

And it's a shame because they should have the money

They spent money that I don't believe they're supposed to

be spending for that as you know

So I think it's a disgrace

What happened with Fe Ma what's happened with their rescue

effort Their rescue effort was almost non-existent

And by the way I want to thank a man

who was really incredible when I came here close to

here but not I couldn't come here because it was

not the appropriate thing as I told you

But uh I got to know a couple of people

from North Carolina officials that were terrific doing a very

good job very much involved

And they said do you do you know Elon Musk

I said I happen to know the gentleman

What's your problem Uh Do you think you could get

Starlink I said what is Starlink explained to me That

was communication because as you know your communication

I see the polls all ripped down all over

Uh You had almost no communication here

And I said so what do you need He said

we need Starlink and we can't get it

There's nobody that knows anything about how to get it

So I called Elon and literally uh actually estranged before

I hung up

They called that man that I spoke to

I said Lan I just asked you we're still on

the phone

How did you do that So he did I don't

think he wanted to tell me but it was pretty

amazing and he got it here really in in record

time there was some delays that shouldn't have happened uh

on behalf of the federal government but that was straightened

out

But he had Starlink here and your communications went from

non-existent to probably almost better than what it was before

And uh so I want to thank Elon Musk for

having done a great job

He he took care of a very important need probably

saved ted probably saved a lot of lives because this

was really an emergency and you had it you had

it appear like almost instantly

It's very hard to get to it's been pretty popular

and very hard to get

Thank you Mr Clearly a lot of people here are

looking to use to save them and bring them relief

in

What better way than to win the White House right

Are you during the election Well I'm not hearing the

good things about the governor here

Like I'm hearing about the governor in Georgia as an

example

I'm hearing the governor in Georgia has done a very

good job and I I don't really know the governor

here but I'm not hearing that

He's done a very good job

So that's the only thing I can say

And certainly uh you have all heard the same stories

that we all hear that Fe Ma has done a

very poor job

Our Fe Ma when we had a problem we we

did record uh rescues and we what the job that

F MA did under uh the Trump administration was really

incredible

But uh they had spent in all fairness to F

MA they had spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing

other things things that I don't think bear any relationship

to this money

There was they were not supposed to be spending the

money on taking in illegal migrants maybe so they could

vote in the election because that's a lot of people

are saying that's why they're doing it

I don't know

I hope that's not why they're doing it

So they really didn't have any money

They don't have very much money

And now they're saying uh can we have a special

vote Let's have a special session

Uh I'm in favor of that but somebody has to

get back to why did they spend hundreds of millions

of dollars on something that they were not supposed to

be spending it on

Ok

Ok

Look voting is the least of it right now

They got a vote

They want to vote because it's very important but they

have to survive

That's why I can't believe the early voting

The early voting is records

I can't you know when they told me that I

was shocked I got a call from Michael Watley

He said so you're not going to believe this but

they're setting records in North Carolina voting and it's just

that they're great people

I mean they lost their house and they're standing outside

voting

So uh obviously we want them to vote but we

want them to live and survive and be happy and

healthy because this is really a tragedy

It's really something the results of the election in North

Carolina will not be

No I think in a way it's the opposite

I mean we're so impressed and uh I think they

have a pretty good system here and Michael Watley was

responsible to a certain extent and the new people that

took Michael's place I think I I have not heard

any complaints about that

I mean the the amazing thing is they've come from

nobody even knows everybody knows them

And it was like they have no home

They stayed in the woods

I heard cases where they are staying in the woods

because they wanted to vote and then they voted and

then they went wherever they went and they are going

to come back hopefully and rebuild and hopefully I'll be

the one that helps them rebuild and we will help

them

But no these are incredible people incredible spirit and heart

Very few people

I mean who would do that It's a great state

Really great

I don't know if it helped

II I don't even like to think about it

That I mean it's a tragedy It's a tragedy but

the fact that they come out and vote in record

numbers is pretty amazing to me

went to well the first thing I'd say is we

love you because that's really something special really for them

to do that

I was surprised I figured we have 50% 30% of

the vote record votes compared to the last elections last

presidential elections even

Uh but compared to any election and you know you're

reporting on it also

I think you were probably surprised like I was

But uh I would just say you are special people

These are special people

These are people with heart these are people that love

your state they love our country

Very special people

I was I was I would have been I mean

honestly I would have been happy if they if we

had 50% how can it be possible And these tend

to be Trump areas I mean not to get too

political but they tend to be very Trump areas and

uh that the people would come out like that

I think it's a great sign

It's a great sign

Well I've seen some pretty bad devastation

I've seen I've seen the tornado devastations and they're pretty

incredible

This is much more spread out

But you would see a line like it was cut

by a razor blade of a tornado that went through

an area and it was literally a foot left

It was perfect and a foot right it was down

to dirt big trees ripped out and thrown you know

miles away the power of the tornado

So I've seen that but that was a much narrower

thing

But you certainly didn't want to be in the way

of it

I've seen trailer parks where they were they weren't even

they were there and very nice and they were literally

there wasn't a thing left the pipes were ripped out

of the ground

So I've seen some pretty bad ones

I've seen some really bad ones

Yeah

Ok

Uh one second please

Well climate change you know we want as I say

we want crystal clear beautiful water and we want clean

air and we had that during the Trump administration but

we also had the best job numbers in the history

of our country

We weren't losing jobs we want in terms of climate

change because when you look at the rest of the

world and you look at China and you look at

the fact that they spent no money on climate change

I mean John Kerry goes over and he speaks to

President Xi and they yes him yes him yes him

and then laugh at him as he leaves and they

do what they're doing

We spend a lot of money in this country

You know we have to it's a double it's a

double on tre but you know what I'll tell you

what uh we had the best the cleanest air on

record and we had the cleanest water on record and

that's very important

And we also had the best economy in the history

of our country

So we had everything going well

And uh yeah so I'm very much into that but

I really focus on the water and the air

Very important

Yes ma'am

Please

Independent voters

Oh undecided

Well it's hard to believe you have undecided voters

I do hear about them but you possibly do

But uh I think look if you believe in what's

happening with the polls if you believe in what's happened

they have a new phenomenon

Now the we we'll call them the betting polls

I don't know if people are gambling on them

I can't imagine that's a proper thing to do

But perhaps they are but one of them uh just

came out I guess the big one that we're 63

to 33 something like that

Uh that's a pretty big margin

I don't know if they know what they're doing

I have no idea who they are but it's a

very big poll

They quote it all the time on television and we're

at 63 and uh they're in the thirties meaning they

meaning her

But I don't think she's qualified to be running

I really don't

And I think she is a threat to democracy our

democracy the way they took it away from Biden

And I'm not a fan of Biden but remember this

he got 14 million votes

She got no votes and she was in fact the

first one to quit out of 22 people and she's

running

So you know you would call that probably a threat

to democracy

But uh we seem to be doing very well in

in the polls

Thank you

Yeah please

Yes

Well I've gone 52 days without a day off which

all of these people would respect but they do the

same because it just like we are called workers

We are workers for better or worse

We are workers

I don't know if it's the best thing

We didn't we didn't have to be a lot of

them

Didn't have to be

I didn't have to be I could have been on

a beautiful beach but I'd much rather be right here

with you because we are going to turn the country

around beyond the area we're going to turn the whole

country around

Uh look my message is that I've been uh going

full blast yesterday you saw that we had uh early

in the morning till late in the evening we left

the football game

We went to a mcdonald's yesterday

That was quite a stop

That was quite a stop

We had thousands and thousands

They had 25,000 people around circling the uh the building

I wouldn't say that secret service was thrilled but that's

the way it is

It was uh it was a love fest though

It was incredible and it just it did take off

it took off and then we did two more stops

We did a we did a town hall big town

hall with sage and some people and it was very

successful

But no the mcdonald's stop was very unique

There's no question about that

They really they really I'm sure mcdonald's liked it but

it was it just took off you know you never

know about life and you never know what's good what's

bad

You do something that's going to be great

It's ok and you do something that's supposed to be

ok

This was supposed to be a routine stop and it

turned into a monster but it was a beautiful monster

There was a lot of love

I'll be doing the same thing

I'm gonna be uh campaigning

Uh I have no days off so I'll be going

into the sixties or seventies

Uh in terms of no days off

I don't want a day off

We have to win

Uh we have to win

We have to save our country and we have to

just make America great

Again that's a message and it's a simple message and

everybody behind me believes in it just as strongly as

I do

I know every one of these people either through uh

who they are or what they do

I know every one of them

They are hard working people

They're great people and they love our country and the

state

Ok

Maybe one or two more

Yes please please

Yeah I can't hear you

You have to speak louder

You there are already plans to get star

Well they didn't get it because all I know is

a top official who is working who happens to be

a Republican was very concerned that they didn't have any

communication and they weren't able to get Starlink

And I called Elon who endorsed me who gave me

one of the most beautiful endorsements of anybody frankly

And uh he was uh you know he is celebrating

the launch and the landing of the most incredible landing

of a rocket that I've ever seen

I called him up

I said is that your rocket Yep

I said can Russia do that Nope

And they won't be able to for a lot of

years

And I said what about China Nope they can't do

it

What about the USA outside of you know they can't

do it either

No he is a unique character outside

He's great

He's great

A lot of spirit a lot of and he is

a certainly a brilliant guy and we're lucky

But in this case the Starlink I've learned a lot

about it

It's incredible

You don't need the wires you don't need digging you

don't need it and it goes right up to a

satellite and comes right back down and he did a

fantastic job

Uh I don't know maybe they were trying but certainly

he didn't know about it

Nobody knew about it

And you know obviously they weren't able to get it

Two Saturdays ago fema had a safety stand down because

well I think you have to let people know how

they're doing

If they were doing a great job I think we

should say that too because I think they should be

rewarded

But if they're not doing does that mean that if

they're doing a poor job we're supposed to not say

it

These people are entitled to say it

And these are honest people behind us

If F MA were doing well they would be saying

they did a good job

They're not for the most part political people for the

most part they're not political people but uh you've obviously

seen nothing but uh you know very bad statements coming

out about the job that Fe Ma and this administration

has done having to do with this area North Carolina

as a whole

And by the way other states also

They're also complaining

But look a lot of the money is gone

They don't have any money

They have to have they have to have a meeting

in Washington a special meeting in Washington to get money

It's all gone

They've spent it on illegal migrants

Many of them are murderers

Many of them are drug dealers

Many of them come out of mental institutions and insane

asylums and many of them are terrorists and they spent

money to bring these people into our country and they

don't have money to take care of the people from

North Carolina and other states

So you know I think you have to be able

to speak

Does that mean let's not talk about it because by

doing that they will do a better job the next

time it's very important

Yeah one more question

Well I haven't unfortunately I know the other side and

they are not good but I have not seen Michael

Have you seen anything that looks suspicious or We're very

early in the process But yeah we're we're very early

in the process and we're tracking across all 50 states

right now uh to make sure that the systems that

we want to have in place are in place

And uh we're very happy with the initial results and

how likely are you to win one Let me ask

you do you think I'll win North Carolina I think

so

I think we're gonna do good and we have Lara

So you know Lara is a fantastic person and unbelievably

smart person works with works with Michael and everybody else

knows everybody here and she loves the state

They named their daughter Carolina

So that's a pretty good that's often but she's fantastic

So Laura is here and uh she's here in the

state right now working in another part of the state

but she loves this place and she's got a big

voice

He's got a big voice a very smart person

Very good person

Uh I want to thank everybody

We're going to another section as you know of North

Carolina

We're gonna do two more and uh so maybe we'll

see you then

But I want to just thank all of the people

behind me

They want to get back to work and uh thank

you all very much beautiful words

No not

We need him as a small business

He's thank you

Thank you

Good job

It looks like the real deal

Right Thank you

Thank you very much sir

Thank you

Yeah