The MeidasTouch Podcast
Roy Cooper on Why North Carolina Could Become Trump's Biggest Problem
20 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the current political landscape in North Carolina regarding Trump?
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This is Donald Trump's nightmare. He is collapsing in the state of North Carolina. His current approval in North Carolina, net negative 22, and it continues to plummet. And with his plummeting approval, Donald Trump may cost the MAGA Republicans control over the United States Senate.
When you zoom in on the polling data for the Senate race, now an open seat in North Carolina, the Democratic candidate, former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, is pulling ahead by massive amounts over the MAGA Republican candidate, Michael Whatley. Whatley used to be the head of the RNC. He is Mr. MAGA, Mr. Donald Trump bootlicker.
All of the polls have Roy Cooper up big, up anywhere from 11, 12. Some polls have him up even more right now. And the Trump regime is absolutely panicking. Donald Trump had previously made posts that Whatley, based on all of his help of Donald Trump and MAGA, was going to bring down health care prices, 800% prescription drug prices. Everything was going to be solved.
But Watley, the Trump bootlicker, has only worked with Donald Trump to cause more pain in the great state of North Carolina. Now, Watley's been running on one thing. Basically, I'm attached to the hip with Donald Trump and North Carolina. You need somebody who just rubber stamps what Donald Trump does. North Carolina If you want the Trump puppet, vote Watley.
That's what Watley's out there saying. Here's what Watley literally said that. I think he was just leaving the spring gala and all of the galas over at Mar-a-Lago where he and all the right-wing oligarchs mock all of the Americans who are suffering right now. Here's what he said on state regime media. Here, let's play this clip.
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Chapter 2: How is Roy Cooper positioned in the Senate race?
Yeah, I think we like them all. Don't have a favorite player? Look, I think that that's a team that's loaded. They're playing offense really well. I'm excited about that. And what about the graphic that was created yesterday? How'd that come about? That's just a graphic that we created.
You use AI for the graphic. Was that intentional? And can you talk about that as far as like the canes and... you know, using their name or whatever, if there's any kind of issue there.
Well, look, I want to see the Carolina Hurricanes win. I think it's absolutely great for the state. And I think it's fun that they're in the Stanley Cup finals. And, you know, we did use AI. Thanks, guys. No, Jacob Slavin. I think that this is a guy who has an outspoken faith in God. He works hard every single day and kind of represents the best of the sport.
Did anyone tell you to say Jacob Slavin? No, we're good. Okay.
I want to bring in now the former Democratic governor of the great state of North Carolina, who is running for that Senate seat in North Carolina, a state now where Donald Trump's approval is net negative 22. Let's bring in the interview I just did with former North Carolina Democratic governor and now the candidate for that Senate seat, Roy Cooper, former governor of North Carolina.
Great to have you back on, Gov. I want to talk about the Senate race, how important it is nationally, how important it is in North Carolina.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Michael Whatley face as a candidate?
I want to begin, though, by just reflecting on the very concept of leadership. You know, when I think about your tenure as governor of North Carolina, one of the things that I always think about is nobody necessarily thought, ah, that was that Democratic governor. That was the guy who owned the Republicans. You know, the way...
The way right now I think this MAGA Republican movement likes to frame things and how politics is so kind of gamified right now. I was just, you know, it was refreshing for me to see at the opening of the Obama Presidential Library, you know, different presidents, different policies, plans just standing up there. And whether I agreed or disagreed, they represented a continuity and a
a peaceful transition of power and dignified leadership that I just feel is missing the very concept of leading right now with compassion, empathy, thought, expertise. I just wanted to pick your brain on that before we really get into the race.
You know, people want government to work, Ben. A lot of people don't pay attention to the politics of it. They just want their kids to go to good schools. They want health care. They want a solid retirement. They want a good paying job. They want safe communities. And more than ever, We need leaders who are ready to step up and do the job.
I was a Democratic governor in North Carolina for eight years. I was limited to two terms. I had a Republican legislature for every single moment that I was governor.
and yeah i vetoed a record number of bills because they passed a lot of bad laws but at the same time i found ways to work with them i found ways to use my executive authority to help people we got medicaid expanded most southern states couldn't do that but we did it 725 000 people now have more health insurance
I got a Republican legislature to pass a law to get us to carbon zero in our power sector by 2050. We were able to get all 99 of our hospitals to sign up for the largest medical debt relief program in the country. People who have civil judgments against them because they didn't have health care insurance. And you can't get a credit card. You can't buy a house.
Sometimes you can't even qualify for rent. So far, we've wiped away six and a half billion dollars in medical debt for more than two and a half million North Carolinians. I had Mary come up to me and show me the letter. She'd been writing a check for eighty dollars a month. That was a big deal for her on a fixed income. She showed me how that fifty four thousand had been wiped away.
It changed her life. We need more people in politics who want to do something rather than people in politics who want to be something and that everything they do is calculated toward gaining or maintaining their power.
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Chapter 4: What are the key issues affecting North Carolinians today?
I think people are sick of it. It's time to get competent, decent people back into government who respect our Constitution, who believe in checks and balances in our democracy. I believe our best days are ahead of us.
It's hard to believe right now with the destruction we've seen and with the people in charge like my opponent, Michael Whatley, who was chair of the RNC and who continues to support these horrible policies like the slush fund that wants to pay out money to these January 6th rioters and insurrectionists to assaulted police officers. We don't need those kinds of leaders.
And I appreciate coming on your show because this is gonna be a tight race. We haven't elected a Democrat in North Carolina since 2008. go to RoyCooper.com to help us out. We've got to flip this seat from red to blue to begin those changes of getting people in government who want to actually do something to help people.
Your opponent in this race, Michael Watley, former RNC chair, a real architect of Project 2025, an architect of all of the pain that people are feeling across the country and very particularly as well in North Carolina. You've got the Make Stuff Cost Less Tour where you're going around speaking with
the people of North Carolina, and talk to us about what people are telling you there, whether it's as it relates to childcare, grocery, credit scores. What are people experiencing? Because this isn't a Democrat, Republican, independent thing. What your opponent Michael Watley and Donald Trump did while they were talking about triumphal arches and reflecting pools that now are, like,
sludgy green algae riddle you know and that when they're out there triumphal arches they're screwing over the people also talk about that yeah yeah michael whatley was a big oil and utility company lobbyist for years and and pushed tax breaks for his buddy millionaires and he owns individual stocks and big oil companies and utilities companies
utility companies and he's making a personal killing on all of this and has pushed all of these policies. But then I will run into Cynthia in Rocky Mount, who just now is having to decide whether it's worth paying child care. She needs a second income for her family, but she just may not be able to work anymore because she can't afford the child care. Seeing $60 a month
extra in utility bills from stephanie who's in charlotte who's telling me that she's even turning her thermostat up high into the 70s higher than it ever is that it's ever been and then she's still getting sixty dollars a month more and insurance. I talked to Gerard who's graduated from college and it's excited.
And then he looks at what he's going to get paid and how much rent he's going to have to pay. The housing costs are through the roof. We've had hundreds of thousands of people to lose healthcare in North Carolina because, uh, Michael Wiley encouraged and this administration pushed the One Big Beautiful Bill that took those health care subsidies away. And now they're struggling to get health care.
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