Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Fortum presents Olavi Vaari playing his favorite instrument. Hmm, beautiful. But let's add a little energy. Yes! We all have it. Northern energy. Courage to stick to your work and develop your inner self. Wherever you go, Fortum brings energy and knowledge to your life. Fortum. Mitäs D-vitamiineja minun pitikää osta? Joku muistisääntö siinä oli. R niinku ravintolisä. H niinku hyvä.
M niinku... Mikä se nyt oli? D niinkuin Devisol. No justiisa se. Devisol D-vitamiinit löydät apteekeista. Orion Pharma. Hyvinvointia rakentamassa.
Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are tanking in North Carolina, a state that they won in 2024.
What you saw there at the outset of this video was a No Kings protest in Lewisburg, North Carolina. The people there were livid. Huge crowds also at the No Kings protest. in Charlotte and good reason for the people of North Carolina to be pissed at the Trump regime. You look at Donald Trump's disapproval right now in North Carolina, it's 53%, only 46% of proof.
You look at the state legislature, generic ballot Democrats, their lead 47% to 43%. and Republicans have had a stranglehold over that North Carolina legislature as well. By the way, make sure you hit subscribe on our YouTube channel right here. You may think you're subscribed, but you may not be subscribed, so hit subscribe.
Now, there's a reason why people in North Carolina are absolutely livid at Trump. Trump's attacked North Carolina day after day. You take a look at the health insurance data. About 657,000 North Carolinians may lose their health insurance under the Trump regime. 125,000 North Carolinian jobs are at risk.
The median household in North Carolina are having their costs increased by about $1,700 right now. If you look at how the tariffs have impacted people in North Carolina, Just look at this story of Wilson Jones. Now, Wilson Jones voted for Donald Trump. He is a fifth generation lumber business owner.
And because of Donald Trump's tariffs against the world and Trump's so-called Liberation Day, Wilson Jones' business is shutting down. And he said, when I say Liberation Day, I cannot put enough snark and sarcasm in my voice because we weren't liberated. Liberation did it at the time it had damn near liberated me from our business.
And we see North Carolina businesses suffering just like that business across the state. We're also seeing Donald Trump's cruel and unusual punishment being inflicted on North Carolina through those immigration raids. And this is the headline from Politico. Is the price of doing this Worth it, North Carolina Republicans worry about Donald Trump's immigration raids.
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Chapter 2: What alarming news is impacting Donald Trump's support in North Carolina?
People who have started families, people who are paying taxes, they're going into the restaurants, they're going into the factories, they're going to the farms and the construction sites. They're going through peaceful communities. And you see the border patrol agents and ICE in their military gear, terrorizing, harassing people, launching chemical weapon attack on people.
It's horrific, horrific to see. And the people specifically in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and across the state are absolutely livid. Let's zoom in on the important Senate race that's taking place in North Carolina. You have the Democratic candidate, the former governor there and former Attorney General Roy Cooper. He's up 47% to MAGA Republican Michael Watley.
Michael Watley used to run the Republican National Committee. He was also appointed by Donald Trump. as their Hurricane Czar from Hurricane Helene, which has been demonstrative of Trump's hatred towards North Carolina. I mean, they've been slow rolling and denying that aid all along, and it's been absolutely horrific.
The people in North Carolina are pissed that the Trump regime is not even providing just basic aid right there. Let's just take a look at some of the things that Michael Whatley, who's the Republican MAGA candidate, has been saying. He says that he wholeheartedly supports the tariffs in North Carolina and across the country.
Chapter 3: What protests are occurring in response to Trump's policies in North Carolina?
He says this has made the people of North Carolina rich. Seriously, you play this clip.
President Trump is fighting very hard for a trade and tariff policy that is going to work for North Carolina manufacturers, North Carolina farms, North Carolina small businesses. I support that agenda wholeheartedly. because we need a international regime that is going to allow North Carolina businesses to succeed.
Now, here is a new segment, just even from a few months ago, but it's only gotten worse since that time, where we see how horrible Whatley has been in the Hurricane Helene recovery right here. Just take a look right here about how the community feels about what he's doing. Let's play this clip.
As we near the one-year mark since Helene hit Western North Carolina, News 13 continues to ask questions about the recovery and where the money is to help with relief efforts. Some residents in the Black Mountain area are speaking out against President Trump's appointed Helene recovery czar, Michael Whatley. News 13's Kimberly King joins us in the studio. Kim, they say Whatley has been absent.
Holly, Watley was a proven fundraiser for President Trump as the Republican Party national chair. He's now running for Tom Tillis' soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat. But for months, local residents say they haven't seen Watley doing anything in his Helene role. More than 20 people from around Black Mountain and Swannanoa organized a news conference to talk about Whatley.
They say for months they haven't seen him attend any local meetings or do any kind of outreach to find out what people need, particularly with controversies around delayed FEMA funds.
For my clients, Mr. Whatley, I'd sure like to know what you could do to help Swannanoa's post office open back up.
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Chapter 4: How is Trump's disapproval rating affecting the political landscape in North Carolina?
or Gurdon get both lanes of their highway back. It's still a one-lane dirt road to Lake Lure.
If Michael Watley does half as good a job for North Carolina as he did for my campaign, we'll be very happy. The president was very clear when he came here in January that he is not going to forget Western North Carolina.
We reached out to Watley's press person and sent questions specifically from the people who spoke. One of his spokesmen did send a response a short time ago. It didn't address any of my questions specifically. And Michael Watley told though the hurricane victims still waiting for help a year later. There's been a lot of help. We've been doing a great job.
Just like he says, everything in the economy is great. Here, play this clip. Well, speaking of helping people, you're on this FEMA review council. President Trump has said, look, let's give disaster aid more control over that to the states. They know what's going on on the ground. Now, there are people in western North Carolina that are still waiting for help from Hurricane Helene.
That was a year and a week or two ago that that hit. What do you tell people there, including Republicans, that are frustrated with the lack of help? Well, there has been a lot of help. And now let's bring in the former governor of North Carolina who's running for that Senate seat, the Democrat, Governor Cooper. Great to see you, Governor.
So I've been showing that data right there, which shows that Donald Trump's disapproval right now is 53% in North Carolina. I showed all of those clips. It just seems that North Carolina has been kind of uniquely targeted by this administration, whether it's through the immigration raids, whether it's by the tariffs, whether it's by the denials of hurricane relief.
What's going on, Governor, in the state?
People are getting hit hard right now, Ben. It's one of the reasons why I'm running for the United States Senate. Washington is broken. People are struggling. They had an administration to promise them that they were going to deal with this high cost of living. Not only had they not dealt with it, they made it worse for people with these tariffs that end up being paid by everyday people.
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Chapter 5: What issues are North Carolinians facing under Trump's administration?
I've got an opponent, Michael Whatley, who keeps insisting that grocery prices are down and people know that that's not true. And in fact, one of the great things I've gotten to do since I've left the governor's office is go to the grocery store actually, and people recognize me and come up and talk with me and have told me how difficult it is for them.
Too much month at the end of the money, this administration, this Congress is broken. when you're making life unaffordable for people, when you're taking away their health care, that's not good for them. And we need to change. We need people who will go to Washington with practical experience, who can break this majority that we have. We must break the majority in the US Senate.
and US House in order to bring some balance back to Washington and try to make this Washington work for everyday people instead of the billionaires that's been going on now for too long.
Look, I think you've also demonstrated how Democrats can win in a state like North Carolina. I mean, people should just know your background as an attorney general from 2000 to 2016, then the governor until recently, now running for the Senate. You balanced budgets every year you were there. You raised teacher pay. You extended Medicaid. to 650,000 North Carolinians.
And you worked with Republicans and you figured out ways to get things done. You weren't doing social media posts in all caps, ranting and raving. You rolled up your sleeves and you got things done. So speak to that, because I just think also you demonstrated sound leadership and how the Democratic Party can win as a template in a state like North Carolina.
Yeah. When you have a Republican legislature for eight years that I served as governor, you have to find ways to achieve consensus and move forward. They had been so adamant in their opposition to Medicaid expansion. What we did is put together a coalition of people so that at the end of the day, their own constituents, including law enforcement and Republican county commissioners and
Members of the Chambers of Commerce were telling them that we need Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. And now we have 675,000 people who have health insurance. I'll never forget handing Penny her health insurance card with Medicaid expansion, her getting the first one. tears in her eyes and admittedly tears in mine. So many people I talked to that day had never had health insurance before.
So you can get things done when you try to work together. Right now, though, Washington's trying to take it all away. And it's one of the reasons that the Republican incumbent in the Senate, Tom Tillis, stood up on the floor of the Senate and told people, how can I vote for this big, beautiful bill?
What am I going to say to the people of North Carolina who are depending on their health insurance that they just won? We have to make sure that we speak to the people that we represent, that we listen to them, and that we actually roll up our sleeves and get things done.
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Chapter 6: Who are the key candidates in the North Carolina Senate race?
And The legislative branch and judicial branches are both not exercising the power they are supposed to exercise in order to have the checks and balances that to make our democracy work. We need for Republicans and Democrats to stand up in the legislative branch and say, hey, We have a word to say about trade. These tariffs are indiscriminate.
You've got CEOs, even everyday consumers and small business are paying these things, but you've got CEOs who are upset because they can't even do what the tariffs want them to do. They can't make investments and create jobs because they're indiscriminate. They're chaotic. Congress needs to step in and say, Hey, We have a role in this.
Negotiated tariffs that are reasonable, that are put in place, can work. but they have to be predictable. They have to be reliable.
And that's where Republicans and Democrats can work together on things like that, putting the checks and balances in place, trying to stop the corruption that's happening and making sure everybody is looking what everybody else is doing, remembering that we're representing the people of our state and our country.
Governor, before we go, where can people find out more information about this campaign? As you mentioned, this is a very, very important race. So where can they find out more information?
Yeah, please go to RoyCooper.com. It tells you a little bit about what we're doing, about my campaign. You also can help us out financially if you can. It's going to be a critical race. It's ridiculous how much these campaigns cost. I wish we could do away with the decision in Citizens United. But since we can't right now, we can't unilaterally disarm.
We need to be able to set the record straight and get our message out. So I appreciate the help that anybody can give us.
North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper. Great to have you here. Thanks, Ben. I really appreciate it, man. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com. Biltema.
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