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Trump likes to talk about the hardships his supporters will endure to get into one of his rallies. This evening, it is nonexistent rain.
This rally is in support of Republican Dan Bishop, who's running in tomorrow's special election in NC's 9th district. His opponent is Democrat Dan McCready. Trump has repeatedly said McCready supports open borders, though he supports physical barriers and various other measures.
"It's going to take at least four more years to drain that swamp," Pence says in introducing Trump.
Pence, introducing Trump, this time says, "We've given health care choice to every veteran in America." They did expand the Choice program, but still, not every veteran has access to private care -- you have to be facing a wait of 20 days or a drive of 30 minutes at the VA.
Trump starts on script, praising Bishop and expressing the "unwavering solidarity of the American people" with communities hit by Hurricane Dorian.
Trump says he won "one of the greatest" elections. He says this way "the fake news" won't say, like, George Washington won a better election. (Washington did not face competitive elections.)
Trump says the media first tried "the Russia thing" and then tried "the recession thing." News outlets have not invented recession fears.
Trump correctly says that African American unemployment rate is at a record low, at least under the current 70s-onward methodology, and then incorrectly says Asian American unemployment is at a record low; it's slightly higher than it was at the end of the Obama era.
Trump, as usual, needlessly exaggerates a great number for him, falsely saying women's unemployment is at the lowest level in "72 years." Aside from earlier in his term, it's the lowest in 66 years. fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS1400…
Trump: "Our evangelicals are here tonight, and they're all over the place."
Trump claims "the other side" is "not big believers in religion," if you "listen to some of them."
Trump says tomorrow's special election is a chance to send a message to "the America-hating left."
Trump usually claims his wall is going up "very fast" or "rapidly." This time he said "going up very big." (Zero new additional miles had been built as of August; 60 miles of replacement fencing had been built; some is big.)
Trump says there is "a lot of illegal voting going on" in California. As always, there is absolutely no evidence for this.
There's a medical issue in the crowd. The rally pauses. Trump breaks the silence to say this happens because people line up so long to get in.
Dan Bishop resumes his speech, calling out "socialist Democrats" and the "fake media." He does a Trump-style accusatory point back at the cameras.
Dan Bishop on himself and opponent Dan McCready: "Vote for right Dan, not wrong Dan."
Sir Alert: Trump says that since the weather in the state was bad (though it's fine in Fayetteville), people told him "maybe we could skip North Carolina today, sir," but he said "no thank you." (This tale of him rejecting advice not to come has become a staple of his rallies.)
Trump, as usual, says "thousands and thousands" of people are watching the rally from outside. Anyone out there reporting or hanging out? This is the most recent picture I've seen.
Trump, thanking a long list of people, shouts out Republican congressmen Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes. He congratulates Nunes for being an early attacker of James Comey, when it "wasn't in vogue."
Trump gives a shoutout to his children, whom he says love America, and then to Diamond and Silk, to whom he says he was alerted by the First Lady. There are loud cheers. "They are incredible. Incredible people," he says.
Trump says that, in many cases, "it's our allies that took the greatest advantage of this country," but not under his watch.
Trump criticizes "the fake news" for refusing to tell people that China is covering the cost of his tariffs, which economists say it is not, at least not even close to in full.
Trump tells a substantially different version of his usual story about talking to Sonny Perdue about China's agricultural spending. In general, Trump's stories about his private exchanges with people are highly suspect.
Trump says China has had its worst economic year in "57 years." It is 27 years, according to official data. There is no apparent reason for Trump to have made it 35 years, 50 years, 52 years, 54 years, 57 years or 61 years, all of which he has done in the last few weeks.
Trump says, in his way, that the trade deficit with China is $500 billion a year, though it has never been $500 billion a year. This is one of the top five most frequent false claims of his presidency; he's said it more than 125 times.
"We're putting up miles and miles" of wall, Trump says, though he has not added any additional miles. He says that by the end of next year it'll be between 400 miles and 500 miles of "serious wall."
Trump repeats his usual extremely inaccurate claim that "nobody shows up" for immigration court after being released. As of 2017, it was 72% appearing in person for all kinds of migrants, 89% for asylum seekers in particular.
The president is talking about his hair. He says it might not be great, but "it's better than most of my friends' who are the same age. A lot better. A lot." There are mild cheers.
Trump repeats his usual false claim that unions "want" the USMCA. There are a lot of unions, but it's generally opposed by the labor movement. AFL-CIO prez Richard Trumka said it needs to be changed to be enforceable; without that, "it's a disaster for workers."
Trump falsely claims Canada and Mexico have already voted on the USMCA. Mexico's Senate has ratified it but Canada's Parliament hasn't.
Overdose deaths dropped last year for the first time in 28 years, according to preliminary CDC data. Trump said it's the first time in nearly 31 years. He does this kind of pointless exaggerating in every rally speech. cnn.com/2019/07/28/pol…
Trump falsely claims that "every major Democrat running for president" supports a government takeover of health care that would take away people's private care. Some support single-payer that would get rid of private plans or close; others, including frontrunner Biden, do not.
Trump is telling his now-regular story about an unnamed businessman he hates and who hates him who is nonetheless working for his reelection because of how radical the Democrats are.
"We'll always protect patients with pre-existing conditions...you have my word," Trump says as he supports a Republican lawsuit seeking to overturn the entirety of Obamacare without putting forward a plan to preserve those pre-existing protections if the suit succeeds.
Trump: "We are keeping even more promises, by far, than we made, or than we promised. So many more. So many more. Sooo many more."
Trump repeats his usual false claim that people had been trying to get the Right to Try law passed for "45 years" (he often says "44"). These laws are a newish idea; the libertarian Goldwater Institute started pushing at the state level in this decade.
Trump, for more than the 90th time, on the Veterans Choice law written by Bernie Sanders and John McCain and signed into law by Barack Obama in 2014: "We passed something that they've wanted to do for half a century. We passed VA Choice."
Trump, defending his spending, says "we had no choice; we had rebuild our military." (A minority of his deficits are related to military spending; tax cuts are biggest contributor.) He says, "You know, budgets are fine. I love budgets. We'll get to that, don't worry about it."
Trump falsely claims that NATO spending was declining until he came in. It rose in 2015 and 2016, before Trump took office, after NATO members recommitted in 2014 to their 2%-of-GDP guideline. Increases have been faster under Trump, but they were happening before.
Trump on how he gets NATO members to increase their military spending: "King! You gotta pay!" He claims that unnamed foreign leaders told him nobody has ever asked them to do this before. In fact, Obama and Bush both hectored allies to boost spending.
In summary, the president is repeating his usual lies and false claims. Basically of this has been fact-checked on multiple previous occasions.
If you vote for Republicans, Trump says, "We will enact trade deals that result in more products proudly stamped with the four beautiful words Made in the USA. Made in the USA." (He and his family have long made products outside the USA. qz.com/1483890/how-ma…)
Trump, putting his hands together in a prayer gesture, claims that his opponents or the media, I'm not sure, have been saying, "Please, please let there be a recession, please."
Trump: "Under the normal rules," he'll be out in 2024, before the 2026 World Cup, "so we may have to go for an extra term." There are cheers. He says people are "going crazy" over this, and are going to say "he's a dictator," but "I'm only kidding."
Trump says Bill Belichick is a very good coach. He then talks about ending AIDS.
! Trump on his decision to weaken energy efficiency rules for light bulbs: "I'm not a vain person...But I look better under an incandescent light than these crazy lights that are beaming down."
Trump is selling his decision to reverse an environmental regulation by telling his supporters they'll look better without it.
Trump says he'd like to fight less, but he can't because his opponents "just keep coming at you in waves."
Trump has concluded. It was the same dishonest stuff as always. Only real new thing was his vanity-centric defense of his decision to weaken efficiency standards for light bulbs.
FYI, from a local reporter on the scene:
