From Staff Reports 

Former United States President Donald Trump announced in an Aug. 10 news release that he will be addressing the economy — specifically “the economic hardships created by the Harris-Biden Administration,”signaling he will focus his remarks on Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent in the Nov. 5 election — during a campaign stop in Asheville on Aug. 14.

Trump will speak at Harrah’s Cherokee Center (also known as the “civic center”) at 87 Haywood St in downtown Asheville at 4 p.m. Aug. 14, with doors opening at 1 p.m., according to a news release. 

To register for general admission tickets, which are free, visit www.event.donaldjtrump.com.

Trump “has promised to not cut a single penny from Social Security or Medicare,” the news release stated, while adding that Trump also wants to ban taxes on Social Security for seniors.

Meanwhile, the Asheville Watchdog noted on Aug. 11: “In choosing Asheville, the largest city by far in Western North Carolina, the Trump campaign is taking its messaging directly to the Democratic stronghold of Buncombe County, which was one of only two counties in Western North Carolina that Trump did not carry in the 2020 election.” 

Further, the Watchdog story added, “Nearly 60 percent of Buncombe (County) voters went for Biden-Harris in 2020, while Trump won all the other counties in WNC, save much-smaller Watauga (County), by a similar 3-to-2 margin. 

“The Trump-Vance campaign did not indicate whether U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-Hendersonville, would attend the Asheville rally, and there was no mention of Trump’s upcoming visit to his district on Edwards’s congressional website or social media channels as of Sunday (Aug. 11) afternoon.”

What’s more, the Watchdog reported, “Neither was there an indication of whether Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, would accompany Trump on this visit to southern Appalachia, where the former president will talk about economics. 

“Vance is the author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ a memoir that reviewers described as ‘part autobiography, part sociological text, and part political manifesto, exploring the material, spiritual, and moral decline of Appalachia and the challenges of achieving true economic and social mobility in the United States.’”

Meanwhile, the Charlotte Observer on Aug. 10 — in a story about Trump’s just-announced campaign Aug. 14 campaign visit to Asheville — quoted the following from a Trump campaign statement:

“Hard-working Americans are suffering because of the Harris-Biden Administration’s dangerously liberal policies.

“Prices are excruciatingly high, and the cost of living has soared, leaving those on a fixed income unsure of how they are going to afford a basic standard of living in the future.” 

Contrary to the Trump campaign’s assertions, the Charlotte Observer asserted in its story: “The Biden-Harris administration has countered those claims, saying nearly 11 million jobs have been created since Biden took office, including 750,000 manufacturing jobs. 

“The unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, and a record number of small businesses have started up, the (Biden-Harris) administration says, “ the Observer stated.

In his last campaign visit to Asheville, Trump held a Sept. 12, 2016 rally at what was then called the U.S. Cellular Center (the civic center) in downtown Asheville. Eventually, Trump went on defeat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to win the presidency.

Most recently in the region around Asheville, Trump held a rally in Charlotte at a packed Bojangles Coliseum on July 24.

In his other recent campaign activity near Asheville, Trump made a stop in Pickens, S.C., on July 1, 2023, during the Independence Day holiday weekend, delivering remarks to a large crowd of supporters.