Thousands Attend Trump Campaign Rally in Winston-Salem

Thousands of people gathered at Smith Reynolds Airport to see President Donald Trump speak as part of a campaign stop Tuesday night. 

The large crowd packed the airport grounds, chanting "four more years" and "USA."

During his hour-long speech, President Trump touched on the economy and immigration.

“We built the greatest economy in the history of the world. We were forced to close it because the China plague that came in,” says Trump. “And now we've opened it and by the way, your state should be open."

Trump referred to the deadly coronavirus as the "China plague" — a term considered to be racially insensitive.

Among the thousands in attendance, many weren't wearing masks. This comes at a time when Democratic Governor Roy Cooper is restricting outdoor gatherings to 50 people or less. 

John Hawkins of Walnut Cove was among the attendees. He says he was a Democrat his whole life, but voted for Trump in 2016 and is now a Republican. This was his first time attending a campaign rally.

“What I like about him is that he just tells it like it is. He's a hard worker, he's always working for us, the everyday people, the American people," says Hawkins.

Doreen Smith of Winston-Salem held a sign that said Peaceful Protester.

“My father was a World War II Vet. The president backs veterans, they are the backbone of this country and that means a lot to me,” says Doreen Smith of Winston-Salem

Trey Mooring of Lenoir County and Pat Harris of Guilford County had never met before, but became friends during the campaign rally. They say they like the President's "pro-America" policies.

“He's fulfilled more campaign promises than any other president in history and everyone wants to talk about, the left wants to talk about how he's taking away women's rights, which he has more women in his administration than any other president in history and the pay gap is smaller. He's done everything he said and then some of what he said he was going to do,” says Mooring.

"Promises made, promises kept,” adds Harris.

According to Politifact, a fact-checking website, President Trump has kept 24 percent of his promises, or 25 promises. In comparison, President Barack Obama, kept 47 percent of his promises, or 255 promises.

As far as having more women in his administration than any other president in history, that assertion cannot be confirmed. An analyis of this claim by The Washington Post in 2018 found it to be false.

This is President Trump's third visit to the battleground state in recent weeks. 

Last week, North Carolina became the first state to begin sending out absentee ballots for the general election this fall.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news