On the morning before Election Day, Donald Trump stopped in Raleigh to tell thousands of his supporters to go vote, and other than that, I’m really not sure what to report.
“Here’s my only purpose in even being here today: get out and vote,” Trump told the crowd in the Carolina Fairgrounds’ Dorton Arena. “[The election] is ours to lose.”
Did he say bizarre things for 90 minutes? Sure. Did the crowd love it when he shouted out the “beautifully coiffed” women of North Carolina? Certainly. Was the event entertaining? Honestly, compared to most political events, yeah.
Did he lie? Surely yes. Am I going to fact-check it? No. What’s the point? Who’s keeping track? How do you write a normal story about a not-normal event? Is it my job to call him a fascist? Should I be enabling INDY reader doom-scrolling? This is the third Trump campaign—who the hell is going to read this story and reevaluate their opinion of the man who has dominated the American psyche for nearly a decade?
Nearly any line from the rally could stand on its own as a headline. But in many ways, the guy sounded a lot like the rest of us: ready for the election to be over.
“You know, I’ve gone through 62 days without a day off. Every single day, every single day,” the 78-year-old said. “I could be at the most gorgeous beaches in the world right now. But I’d much rather be with you people because I like you people better.”
Hundreds of seats were left empty in an arena with a maximum capacity of 7,500. But the crowd members in attendance seemed absolutely thrilled. Balancing lemonades and soft pretzels from the concession stand, they joined the former president on a full emotional journey from the joys of the Village People’s YMCA to the horrors of a video message from a mother of a girl who was abused and murdered by illegal immigrants.
That twist from jubilation to dread and back again is the signature of a Trump event. He can talk about the murder of Israeli hostages (“Most of those hostages, sadly, I think they’re possibly gone, most of them are gone”) in the same speech that he describes the recent SpaceX rocket (“and then it came down and those two big arms—you saw the arms?—they grab that thing like you grab your beautiful baby; see, much better, years ago I would’ve said something else but I’ve learned. You have to learn. I would’ve been a little bit more risqué”).
At one point, he mimed a phone call: “You’re now a drug trafficker—or a human trafficker—with an app. And you say ‘ding ding ding, hello, where do I drop these people?’
“Isn’t it nice that you can have a president that doesn’t need to use a teleprompter?” he asked.
Before the former president arrived, down-ballot candidates Brad Knott (for congress) and Dan Bishop (for attorney general) each got a few minutes in the MAGA spotlight.
Bishop, before jumping into a stump speech touting his law enforcement endorsements, noted the finality of the rally.
“I want to thank President Trump for this microphone and this stage, which he has so often and so generously shared,” said Bishop. “Thanks for these rallies, this final Trump rally in North Carolina that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Thanks for this movement, and the love of America it has reignited.”
And later, the former president sounded particularly pensive as he tried to envision a post-Trump North Carolina.
“They’ll never have rallies like this,” he said, describing an imagined future candidate—Democrat or Republican—who only gets 250 people to show up to an event.
Eventually the man danced his way off the stage and towards Pennsylvania and Michigan for the final hours of the third Trump campaign. And the rest of us sat in traffic on I-40 and wondered what tomorrow will bring.
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].
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