Raleigh – During his rally in North Carolina last night, Donald Trump suggested he would not have felt the need to visit Winston-Salem if not for his botched response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We just had the plague. We have had other plagues sent by them [China],” Trump said. “I wonder if they did it on purpose. What do you think? I was sailing through an easy election. This was going to be so easy. I probably would have not been here tonight. I said, no, we don’t have to bother.”

In response, NCDP Communications Director Austin Cook released the following statement:

“So this is what Trump thinks of the Tar Heel State? Apparently if not for his botched pandemic response that’s led to 179,000 infections in North Carolina, killed almost 3,000 people here and left hundreds of thousands unemployed, Trump wouldn’t ‘have to bother’ visiting our state. It’s clear the only reason he’s bothering now is that he’s desperate for North Carolina’s electoral votes, but voters here aren’t falling for these reckless stunts that put our communities at risk. With absentee voting already underway, North Carolina Democrats are more committed than ever to voting Trump out of office in less than two months.”