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PRESIDENT TRUMP: Ted Budd, please come up.<\/p>\nBRETT: One of the big blockbuster stories moving in the last 48 hours occurred, as I mentioned earlier, right here in the state of North Carolina as President Trump made a trip to give a speech to the North Carolina Republican Party\u2019s convention in Greenville, North Carolina. And he certainly made news as he came out after hearing from Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, that she will not be seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Richard Burr at the end of this term.<\/p>\n
She had been flirting with the idea and sort of thinking about maybe getting involved in that race. But she said, “Look, I have young children. I want to do everything 100% and I want to give my children 100% of my attention right now.” She closed her remarks by saying, “This is not ‘no\u2019 forever. This is ‘no\u2019 for now.” At that point, President Trump came out to the stage and endorsed Congressman Ted Budd. Here\u2019s what it sounded like.<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Ted Budd, please come up.<\/p>\n
CROWD: (cheers and applause)<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Please come up.<\/p>\n
CROWD: (cheers and applause)<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Please come up, Ted. I am giving him my complete and total endorsement. We\u2019re gonna work with him. We\u2019re gonna campaign with him. You can\u2019t pick people that have already lost two races. You can\u2019t pick people that have already lost two races and that do not stand for our values.<\/p>\n
BRETT: That was an endorsement of Congressman Ted Budd. But also a refusal to support the candidacy of Pat McCrory, Governor Pat McCrory, the former governor of the state of North Carolina, a seven-term mayor in the city of Charlotte, and a man who attempted to run for the Senate earlier on in his career, and also tried to run for reelection and was defeated at the hands of a Roy Cooper here in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
So a back-and-forth sort of ensued between President Trump and Governor McCrory who responded and reacted saying, “Listen, I have supported your efforts. I\u2019ve been supportive of the border and a number of your policies.” So now we wait to see what\u2019s going to happen here in the state of North Carolina. Former Congressman Walker is still a part of this mix; as I mentioned, Governor McCrory is part of this mix; and, of course, Congressman Ted Budd.<\/p>\n
And then you have a series of candidates over on the Democrat side of the aisle looking to pick up that seat when Senator Burr moves on down the road. One of the big things that people were looking at in this regard also, it should be noted, is the power of this endorsement. Because what\u2019s curious is Mark Walker, the former congressman from North Carolina, won the straw poll among the delegates assembled there at the convention.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s very early on. We\u2019ll see what the impact of this endorsement from the president, former president, is going to carry there into the election cycle. That\u2019ll be moving on down the road, obviously, once we make that turn from Christmas into New Year\u2019s and we get into the next year of 2022.<\/p>\n
One other moment that I thought was absolutely spot-on was the way the president decided he was going to make a series of comments regarding the Wuhan Virology Lab, the role of Dr. Anthony Fauci and all that has gone on to transpire in this covid-19 world in which we live in for about 14 months. Here\u2019s the president talking about Wuhan and Tony Fauci.<\/p>\n
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PRESIDENT TRUMP: What I first said thirteen months ago, “The evidence demonstrates that the virus originated in a Chinese government lab,” you couldn\u2019t say it.<\/p>\n
CROWD: (applause starts)<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You couldn\u2019t say it, and Dr. Fauci — who I actually got along with. He\u2019s a nice guy. He\u2019s a great promoter you know?<\/p>\n
CROWD: (laughter)<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Not a great doctor, but he\u2019s a hell of a promoter.<\/p>\n
BRETT: Brutal shot. But who has been on TV more than Anthony Fauci, and who has held more positions while on television and in radio interviews (laughing) than Dr. Anthony Fauci? In fact, the president talked about Dr. Fauci\u2019s deep-seated, deep-rooted love of masking. Go.<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Fauci said powerfully at the beginning, “No masks!” You remember that? “No, masks don\u2019t work. Masks don\u2019t work.” and then he went into masks, and then he became a radical masker!<\/p>\n
CROWD: (laughing)<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I would call it, “If you have three, if you have four — get a pair of goggles also, ideally — and let\u2019s wear them for another five or six years.”<\/p>\n
CROWD: (laughing)<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: But Fauci has perhaps never been more wrong than when he denied the virus and where it came from.<\/p>\n
BRETT: So, that is, I think, from President Trump vintage strong Trump. Because what he\u2019s doing is what he did so well at live rallies, and that was to go with the energy in the room talking about Fauci. We all know he loves masks. We all know he\u2019s been talkin\u2019 about masks from day one.<\/p>\n
But then to turn it into, “Get a pair of goggles; wear three masks,” I mean, it\u2019s incredible bit of comedy, that he\u2019s able to do, because it has — as Rush always pointed out — the ring of truth. But then the president pivoted and made a very bold demand of Xi Jinping and the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT TRUMP: The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the Communist Party of China.<\/p>\n
CROWD: (applause)<\/p>\n