Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
GREENSBORO — There was a full house at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro on Oct. 10, as more than 800 people waited to see Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.
With only 26 days left until Election Day, winning North Carolinians’ vote will play a vital role in the presidential election.
Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, opened the floor by speaking about immigration, stating that the current administration has taken 94 executive actions to dismantle the security at the southern border.
He addressed the vice president’s tie-breaking vote on $2.5 trillion worth of federal spending and the implications for global affairs on how she is perceived.
“America’s weak under Kamala Harris and her administration. And when America’s weak, the world is a far more dangerous place,” said Whatley. “We have a former president who has said on day one he’s going to end inflationary spending. He’s going to unleash American energy. He is going to have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security. … He’s going to support our soldiers, our veterans, and our military families.”
After his speech, Whatley welcomed Senator Ted Budd to the floor. Budd spoke about inflation and holding the government accountable. He also thanked veterans and all the volunteers who have been aiding rescue efforts in western North Carolina.
Former professional race car driver Danica Patrick served as the event moderator.
Patrick shared with the crowd that getting backlash from a post she made saying, “I love my country,” motivated her to seek change.
“It just really lit a fire in my heart to do whatever I could to make this country the kind of country where I can say — I love my country,” said Patrick. “We should be able to say it proudly. That’s the kind of country that I want to live in. So here I am today with the amazing honor of being able to moderate this town hall with y’all and Senator J.D. Vance.”
The excitement filled the room, and the crowd erupted in applause as Vance entered.
Vance spoke about his mother’s addiction and how, for a good part of his early life, he was raised by his grandmother. He added that one of the things that allowed him to pursue his dreams is that “we live in the greatest country in the world” and that he always felt grateful for his grandmother’s love and support.
“I realized there were so many little ways where, without her love, without her support, without her going above and beyond, I just wouldn’t have been here. … She was a woman of incredibly profound Christian faith. She never graduated from high school, but she was the smartest person that I ever knew,” said Vance. “The advice I would give to anybody is don’t let yourself become a victim and don’t forget that however hard your life has been, it would be a lot harder, but for people you ought to show some gratitude toward.”
The first question Vance took from the public was from Adam, a pilot who has been delivering supplies to the victims in Western North Carolina.
“We’ve seen absolute decimation. We’ve seen destruction, and we have seen miracles left and right. Over the last 14 days, we’ve probably had close to, just at our location, maybe 500 different volunteers come through. And we have seen Americans of every shape, color, creed, and size helping every other American, which is what America is supposed to do. There’s two big fears that we have. The biggest fear right now is that when all this is over, Western North Carolina becomes a footnote. And we don’t want that. We don’t want that for anybody that’s left behind after a disaster, holding it back, trying to rebuild everything that they’ve lost. The second fear is that we won’t have an opportunity to have a real conversation about the afteraction of what took place, in order for us to understand how we can use a combination of both private sector and public sector funding and efforts to have effective, efficient actions on the ground to make it more mobile and more agile, but more importantly, to re-inject capital back into the work we’re doing,” said Adam. “I think the bureaucratic process of red tape that we have to cut through in order to get the funding directly to the people who need it most, this just simply takes too long, and it’s not the fault of any individual agency for the federal government.”
He asked Vance if they win the presidency if they would consider overhauling the process of disaster relief in the US to get funding to those in need more efficiently and involve retired veterans and special operations personnel to make the strategy more effective.
“We’re never going to let them be left behind and forgotten. I promise that to you, man,” said Vance. “I want to thank all the private relief agencies, the charities, and Good Samaritans who did their job and took care of their fellow Americans. God bless you guys. We should all be proud of them. …What should have happened is that the president and the vice president should have sent the 82nd Airborne to Western North Carolina… “It’s not any one agency. And there are a lot of people working on the federal effort who are doing a good job or at least are doing as good as they can. The problem is all the bureaucratic incompetence. … In 2010, the terrible earthquake at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the 82nd Airborne was there two days later. The 82nd Airborne is an hour away from Western North Carolina, and it took six days to get them there. That doesn’t happen without a failure of leadership… The only way to fix this is by accountability… I want to be the kind of vice president where you feel like I have your back and that I haven’t left you behind.”
The next question was from Jean about immigration, pointing out the 13,000 murderers who reportedly came across the border illegally last week.
“Unless we get this right in the next administration, we are throwing open the floodgates to illegal immigration for the next 30 years in this country. … it’s tens of thousands of violent criminals … but it’s also millions upon millions of people who have come here. Some of them are good people, but that doesn’t mean they have the legal right to be in the United States of America. … The message that our country sends after 25 million illegal aliens coming into this country is, you get to stay here, you get to collect housing benefits, you get to collect welfare benefits while folks in Western North Carolina are struggling to survive.”
The next question came from Kaylee, a business owner and a first-time voter.
“One day, I want to start a family and own my own home, but with rising costs, I do not know if that will be able to happen. You have come from humble beginnings, so what is your plan for creating more opportunities for people like me?”
“We’re going to cut taxes for American workers. We’re going to penalize folks who are shipping American jobs overseas. … I want you to own a piece of the future and not just be a permanent debtor to people and institutions that don’t care about you,” said Vance. I want you to own a nice house and be able to start a family and build a great business in the United States of America. And that’s what Donald Trump is fighting for.”
Patrick asked Vance about the pathway to becoming energy-independent.
“We can take a week to two years to get us back to where we were. … Let’s buy it from American citizens right here at home and make a lot of money,” said Vance.
“If you want clean air, you don’t ship all of our manufacturing and energy to China, which is the dirtiest economy per unit of economic output in the world. You build more and make more in the United States of America. That’s what President Trump will do.”
The next question came from Patricia, a retired healthcare worker from Timberlake.
“I’ve seen ads and posts where Donald Trump is going to take away our Social Security or cut it or decrease it. But then I also saw ads and posts that Donald Trump is planning to remove taxes on Social Security. Can you explain and, describe, and clarify your and Donald Trump’s Social Security plan?”
Don’t believe everything you see on TV because a lot of those things are paid for by Democrat money. It’s dishonest,” said Vance, adding that Donald Trump is going to protect Social Security.
“He is going to cut taxes on Social Security income because our seniors get paid into it for their whole lives. You ought to be able to enjoy the benefits. …you know what will bankrupt Social Security in this country? Giving it to illegal aliens… what I think is so sick about what Kamala Harris is going out there doing. She is accusing us of doing the very same thing that she herself is promising to do. She wants to bankrupt this program, not by giving it to the people who paid into it, but by giving it to people who don’t even have the legal right to be in this country to begin with.”
Vance wrapped up the town hall speaking about the incredible responsibility someone running for office is asking from the public, asserting that trust should be earned.
“There’s something about the way that Kamala Harris has run this campaign that I think genuinely to all Americans, Democrats, independents, Republicans, is insulting. … She is asking you to give her control over millions of American troops … over the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States. She is asking for literally the authority to command life and death all over the world. And she won’t even go out and talk to the American people in a non-friendly setting. We all should be insulted by that.”
