‘Your companies won’t be leaving NC,’ Trump vows

FLETCHER — For the second time in two weeks, the Trump campaign held a major campaign event — this rally featured GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump — in this small rural North Carolina town.

Trump on Oct. 21 told about 3,100 supporters that his economic plan is “jobs, jobs, job. They’ve been taken away from us. At the center of my jobs plan will be fixing our terrible trade deals.”

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented during Bill Clinton’s presidency, Trump said it has been a “one-way highway into Mexico for our jobs, our cash. We get the drugs — they get the jobs and the cash.”

Trump said he was place a 3.5 percent tariff on goods made overseas by companies that have shipped jobs outside the country.

“There will be consequences,” he said. “We’re not going to have companies go to Mexico or some other country. Guess what’s going to happen? They’re not going to leave anymore because, all of a sudden, it won’t work. If they do, we’re going to make a lot of money when they ship them across the border.”

While Trump’s Sept. 12 rally at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, where several clashes broke out between protesters and Trump supporters, the Fletcher rally was peaceful and drew only five protesters who stayed within a chained-off area designated for them.

Among the protesters, Luis Rodriguez, a representing the progressive group Progress NC Action, told reporters that Trump “has emboldened and empowered an undercurrent of hate, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-Muslim ... He’s taking (America) back to a time that was horrific.”

Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, spoke Oct. 10 at a smaller venue at the WNC Agricultural Center — just across N.C. 191 (Brevard Road) from the Asheville Regional Airport.

In Trump’s only other campaign stop in the area — he spoke Sept. 12 to a crowd of 7,000 people inside the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville — clashes erupted between protesters and Trump supporters resulting in five arrests and national media attention on two related assaults.

In a 41-minute speech in Fletcher, Trump promised supporters from the mountains of Western North Carolina that, if elected, he not only will back bring jobs to the state, but that he also will keep the jobs that are already here.

“Your companies won’t be leaving North Carolina under a Trump administration,” he told the crowd in the Davis Event Center.

Trump said he would renegotiate NAFTA an consolidate management of trade policy into one office call the “American Desk.” In contrast, he said that under current policies “we are living through the greatest jobs theft in the history of the world.

“We are going to start making things in America again. We are going to start making things in North Carolina again.”

Trump’s speech— set to start at noon but starting 40 minutes late — was his first of four in battleground states planned for that day. His followers did not appear fazed by his unexplained tardiness. It was his second stop in North Carolina – a must-win state for him – in a week.

“Win, lose or draw ... I never want to look back and say, ‘If only I did one more rally, I would have carried North Carolina,’” he told the crowd. 

Trump then asked his supporters to match his hard work between now and Election Day by voting early and getting all their friends to the polls.

Besides job losses due to foreign trade, Trump touched on familiar themes including building a wall along the Mexican border and restoring the nation’s world respect.

He also promised ethics reforms that would “drain the swamp” in Washington. The reforms would include making White House and congressional officials wait five years after leaving their government jobs before becoming lobbyists, establishing a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying for foreign governments and pushing a constitutional amendment to put term limits on members of Congress.

Trump chose not to address whether he would support the results of the election if he loses Nov 8. His refusal at the final presidential debate Oct. 19 to agree to abide by the vote prompted controversy.

Trump continued his current line of attack Dagainst emocratic rival Hillary Clinton by alleging that she received a primary season debate question in advance from Donna Brazile, who was a CNN contributor. 

Brazile, interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, has suggested the leaked email containing the allegation was forged, Politico reported.

Trump said if he had received a question in advance, the news media would have punished him with “a more sinister version of the electric chair.”

He cited Charles Van Doren from the 1950s, who had been given questions in advance on the then-popular quiz show “Twenty One.”

“His life was ruined,” Trump said. “Can you imagine if I got the questions and they found out?”

He accused Clinton of being the most corrupt person to seek the presidency. In response, the crowd erupted with a chant of “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!”

Trump, who has threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton if he becomes president, said he has to win first. Then, he told his supporters that he and they can “explore ... options.”

The Brazile allegation came from a WikiLeaks release of emails from Clinton’s campaign chief, John Podesta.

“Boy we love WikiLeaks,” Trump said.

He said the Podesta emails also showed Clinton has “great hostility towards Catholics, towards evangelicals.”

Earlier in the rally, U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, the only current GOP member of Congress to show up, greeted the crowd – “Hello, deplorables!” – by alluding to Hillary Clinton’s much-criticized description of “half” of Trump supporters.

The Fletcher crowd, which was predominantly white, cheered when Trump said he would “fix” the inner cities, which he described as a virtual war zone resulting in the violent death of many African-Americans.

Recorded warm-up music that was played over the sound system included Trump’s favorite British Invasion tracks, including The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Time Is on My Side,” along with Elton John’s “Rocket Man”