Following a tour of flood-ravaged Swannanoa on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump offered his sympathy to storm victims and promised local Republican officials his full support in rebuilding the region if he returns to the White House.
“I’m here today in western North Carolina to express a simple message to the incredible people of the state,” the former president said. “I’m with you .. and we’re going to continue to be with you. We’ll see what happens after the election.
“We are praying for you and we will not forget about you,” Trump said.
But he also took numerous opportunities to continue to slam recovery efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which is overseeing the federal response, saying, “It’s been not good, not good.”
He leveled numerous insults at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, who he said has mishandled the recovery response.
And he repeated several false claims that FEMA is running out of money because funds were being diverted to help “illegal migrants” enter the country with the possible intention of illegally voting for Democrats in the election.
“It’s all gone,” Trump said. “They [FEMA] 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 of North Carolina and the other states.”
A debunked claim
The claim has been thoroughly debunked since Trump first raised the allegation in the days after Helene. Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents the region’s 11th District, has rebutted this and other allegations in media interviews and in a sharply worded news release 10 days after the storm.
“FEMA has NOT diverted disaster response funding to the border or to foreign aid,” the conservative lawmaker wrote, calling such claims hoaxes. “FEMA is not going to run out of money.”
Edwards was among the local GOP leaders who stood beside the former president Monday as he repeated the false charge.
The congressman had also debunked several other of Trump’s continuing attacks on the federal response while saying he has been in frequent conversation with White House officials. Among the attacks Edwards has debunked include Trump’s claim that the Biden administration was denying assistance to victims in Republican areas, and another that FEMA had bulldozed the devastated tourist town of Chimney Rock to make way for a lithium mine.
“Chimney Rock is NOT being bulldozed over,” Edwards wrote, emphasizing the word “not.”
Earlier this month, a Trump supporter named William Jacob Parsons, while armed with a pistol, ordered a pair of FEMA workers to cease their operations. The agency ordered a halt to its relief effort until it could organize security for its workers to protect them against similar threats.
After Parsons was arrested Oct, 12, he said the threats were needed to prevent the FEMA workers from taking the actions Trump falsely claimed they were engaged in.
At a news conference following Trump’s prepared remarks, a reporter told the former president about Parson’s arrest and asked: “Is it helping the recovery effort in North Carolina to keep making these claims that FEMA isn’t doing their job well?”
Trump sidestepped the question while seeming to defend his attacks.
“I think you have to let people know how they’re doing,” he replied, apparently referring to his false statements. “. … But, you know, [there are] very bad statements coming out about the job that FEMA and this administration has done.”
State Sen. Chuck Edwards
Before Trump’s remarks, Edwards – owner of several McDonald’s franchises in the region – jokingly presented Trump with a “french-frier certification” for a recent campaign photo opportunity in which Trump prepared a basket of fries at a McDonald’s. The move was intended to mock Harris for citing her employment while a college student as a McDonald’s fry cook.
The former president’s visit Monday was located in a flood-devastated parking lot on US Highway 70 in the unincorporated town of Swannanoa, which sprawls midway between Asheville’s eastern edge and the town of Black Mountain. Most of the buildings and structures along the highway had been swept away or severely damaged by the Swannanoa River’s floods or mudslides.
The managers of two of the damaged businesses were invited to introduce Trump: Brian Burpeau, manager of Diamond Back 4×4, an auto repair shop, and Mike Stewart, sales manager of Pine View Buildings, which sells portable sheds.
Business managers express support for Trump
Both made known their strong support for Trump’s election. Burpeau spoke first, praising Trump for the visit, saying “We need to know that we’ll be OK and we won’t be forgotten.”
Stewart also thanked Trump and said he believed of the former president that, “God has given you indomitable spirit.”
He asked Trump for permission to say a prayer for him. Trump agreed. “I pray that you will anoint him,” Stewart said, as Trump bowed his head. “Give him the wisdom, understanding and insight as he prepares to lead this nation.”
The former president replied: “Wow… No speechwriter could do that so well.”
The usually busy highway was cordoned off for nearly a mile on both ends, halting traffic for nearly two hours and keeping potential protesters far away. The location for the visit was a closely held secret, including from many in local media, including Asheville Watchdog. This report was based on live coverage by WLOS (Channel 13), whose reporter was allowed on the site.
A small gathering of bystanders gathered at the intersection of the highway and the interchange to Interstate 40 along which Trump’s motorcade came and departed. The former president left his limousine only to walk the few steps to the makeshift podium where he spoke and met with the local business leaders and political officials.
Edwards, however, told Trump that by “getting dust on your shoes,” he had done more to view the devastation than the president or vice president.
Trump used the visit to pitch for votes, urging supporters to take advantage of early voting. The former president said that while most respected polls show him in a near tie with Harris, he cited what he called “a gambling” poll that had him winning by a 63 to 33 percent margin. “I don’t know whether to believe that or not; we probably shouldn’t.”
He also incorrectly claimed to be leading Harris in North Carolina in early voting, which began Oct. 17, although no votes will be counted until after the state’s polls close Nov. 5.
The state’s Board of Elections has reported on its website that the greatest number of ballots cast so far have been by registered Democrats.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Tom Fiedler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter and dean emeritus from Boston University who lives in Asheville. Email him at tfiedler@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-01 13:32:00
(The Center Square) – Directions on curriculum measured age appropriate and access in public libraries to materials considered harmful to minors are in a proposal at the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Parental Rights for Curriculum and Books, also known as House Bill 595, adds to state law a section for age-appropriate instruction for students; a human growth and development program for fourth and fifth graders; and says reproductive health and safety education shall not happen before seventh grade.
Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston
NCLeg.gov
The bill authored by Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, and filed Monday additionally has sections on instructional materials and clarification of “defenses for material harmful to minors.” Public library access for minors is in a fourth section.
Gender identity instruction, a buzzword of recent election cycles, is prohibited prior to students entering the fifth grade. The proposal extends that to prior to the entering seventh grade.
The bill would require parental consent to learn about some elements associated with sex education – infections, contraception, assault and human trafficking.
State law allows schools the option to adopt local policies on parental consent for the reproductive health education.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 16:37:00
(The Center Square) – Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.
“As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”
More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in deportation of people accused of being in gangs in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app.
Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.
Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciar Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.
Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth.
“Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 15:21:00
(The Center Square) – Wildfires continued to burn Monday in the Carolinas, though a sign of optimism arose with a burning ban lifted in 41 South Carolina counties and measured rainfall in both states.
Largest of the fires is Table Rock in Pickens and Greenville counties of South Carolina. The Black Cove fire is burning in North Carolina’s Polk and Henderson counties, the Rattlesnake fire is burning Haywood County, and the Alarka 5 fire is in Swain County.
South Carolina’s Horry County at the Atlantic Ocean and North Carolina border, and the northwestern counties of Spartanburg, Greenville, Pickens and Oconee remain under a burning ban. In North Carolina, all 100 counties have a ban in effect.
The Table Rock fire size is about 13,191 acres in South Carolina and 574 in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission of the former said. Containment is about 30%.
The Persimmon Ridge fire is 2,078 acres in size with 64% containment. Rain Sunday into Monday measured nearly 1 inch.
The Covington Drive Fire in Myrtle Beach is about 85% contained and in mop-up and strengthened firebreaks stage.
In North Carolina, the Black Cove complex of fires are 7,672 acres in size. It includes the Black Cove (3,502 acres, 36% contained), Deep Woods (3,971 acres, 32% contained) and Fish Hook (199 acres, 100% contained) fires. Rainfall overnight into Monday helped the battle.
