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 President Donald Trump Rallies in Gastonia, North Carolina           ... 1 of 6 >
"This election is a choice between a Trump super recovery or a Biden steep depression
." 

Oct. 21, 2020 - Thirteen days until Election Day and the evening before the second and final presidential debate, President Donald J. Trump held a Make America Great Again rally at Gastonia Municipal Airport in Gastonia, NC [transcript]. 
North Carolina Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley tweeted that Trump's the rally was "the largest in NC political history" with 28,278 people registered; final attendance according to WBTV was at least 23,000.  In his speech, Trump attacked "the radical Biden-Harris agenda," highlighted the accomplishments of his administration and mixed in discursions on the size of the audience at his Inauguration, the impeachment proceeding, his characterization of Biden as a corrupt politician, including the evidence of Hunter Biden's laptop, and an homage to Rush Limbaugh, all punctuated by criticism of "fake media" and put-downs of various opponents.  Trump spoke of many forces aligned against him, declaring, "The swamp, and the swamp creatures are much deeper and much worse than we ever thought."  He asserted, "Under my administration, we built the greatest economy in the history of the world, and now we are doing it again."  All told Trump spoke for about 75 minutes; about three-quarters of the way through he brought the Republican gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, on stage for some brief words, and he acknowledged Republican members of North Carolina's congressional delegation, including Sen. Thom Tillis, who was not present.  While almost all the people in the stand behind Trump wore masks,  most of the people watching from the tarmac did not.  In a statement before the rally, NCDP Chairman Wayne Goodwin denounced the event as "reckless (+)."  This was Trump's sixth visit to North Carolina since Sept. 1 and tenth visit of the year.  Gastonia is in the Charlotte metropolitan area about half an hour drive west on I-85. 





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