Live Blog: Former President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Asheville, NC

Supporters and opponents of Trump lined the streets of Asheville, but another group capitalized on the former president's visit: dozens of merchandise vendors.

Catherine Hooten made the drive from South Carolina to sell Trump-themed merchandise. She set up her merch station outside of the venue.

T-shirts and hats, emblazoned with “Make America Great Again” and “Built Trump Tough” are for sale. One of her most popular items, she says, is a red visor with a blonde toupee attached to the top.

She admits the toupees aren’t the best looking, comparing them to looking like “Barbie doll hair” and “Beetlejuice.” For a good toupee, it’s best to use human hair, she says.

Laura Hackett

Hooten says it’s her first time visiting Asheville. For her, the experience has been a mixed bag.

“I have seen people scream for the other side. They hate Trump. I have heard some racist comments and have been told that we shouldn't be here because we're Black,” she says. “I don't let it get to me. I let people feel how they feel.”

Hooten says she supports Trump for economic reasons.

“He knows how to bring some money back to America. I can say that we didn't struggle much with him.”

When she’s not selling Trump merchandise, Hooten works as a hairstylist. She says she’d love to fashion a high-quality toupee for Trump.

“If you need me to, you know, I'll be his personal hairstylist,” she says.

As Trump wraps up his speech, he draws the biggest applause of the event, declaring his support for the Second Amendment and his opposition to a raft of issues including transgender rights and “critical race theory.” And he pledges to bring prosperity to all Americans.

The crowd leaps to its feet as he speaks.

“For that to happen, we must never let Kamala Harris get anywhere near the White House. … She destroyed San Francisco. She’s not going to destroy our country,” Trump says.

“Y.M.C.A.” blasts on the auditorium’s speakers as Trump waves to the crowd and exits the stage.

Trump falsely alleges that migrant crime is "beyond control."

"These people are brutal," he says, labeling immigrants "tough," "mean" and "angry."

"The migrants that Harris let in are raping our women and hurting our children, and now Kamala wants to let them pillage social security and Medicare," he says.

His oft-repeated false claim about "migrant crime" has been disproven by several sources. Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

He presents himself as a savior from this fate, saying if he gets in office, these alleged dangers won't happen because he will issue the "largest deportation in U.S. history."

Trump also falsely claims that some students can't go to school in America because immigrant children are taking their places.

“As president I will seal the border," he promises.

Trump goes on an extended riff about border security, drilling and crime, then discusses his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

“We never really got the credit we deserved for that,” Trump says. "We did a good job."

He draws cheers for declaring that he will roll back some of the Biden administration’s efforts to promote electric vehicle use.

“You should be able to go out and buy what you want,” Trump says.

He finally returns to the main theme of his event, accusing the Harris campaign of having “viciously, ruthlessly copied” his “No Tax on Tips” plan.

And he draws some of the biggest cheers of the event so far when he proclaims that, if he is elected, “There will be no tax on Social Security.”

“With your vote, I will end this injustice and I will always protect Medicare and Social Security for our great seniors,” Trump says to applause.

"We will drill baby drill," Trump says. "We're going to bring energy prices down."

The crowd chants "Drill, baby! Drill!"

Trump threatens that the drilling will stop if Harris succeeds in her White House bid.

Trump talks about the oilfields in Alaska.

"We want clear air. We want clean water. But we don't want to destroy our country," Trumps says, asserting that everyone is an environmentalist.

He promises the crowd that their gas and heating bills will come down but does not explain how.

He pokes fun at wind energy, and he criticizes Harris for her past opposition to fracking.

"Your quality of life is gonna collapse under these lunatics," Trump tells the crowd.

Trump briefly mentions his “No Tax on Tips” plan, which he introduced earlier this year. He notes that Harris has rolled out a similar plan. He then continues to focus the bulk of his remarks on attacking Harris.

“She’s not smart. She’s not intelligent,” Trump says of Harris, echoing remarks he has made at other recent rallies.

He also seizes on the fact that Harris has taken few questions from reporters since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

“Essentially, they’re keeping her in the basement,” Trump says, reprising an attack he has made against Biden in the past.

Trump also calls Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “a clown.”

If Harris is elected, Trump tells the crowd, the United States will experience a “Kamala economic crash, a 1929-style Depression.”

But so far, he has given few details of his own plans.

A police officer and a guitarist broke up a scuffle between Trump supporters and anti-Trump protestors outside of Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. After hours of shouts and jeers exchanged through a tall chain link fence, one Trump supporter crossed over to where anti-Trump protestors stood.

He held up a “Veterans for Trump” t-shirt and knocked signs out of protesters' hands as they tried to block him from the front of the fence. Police intervened twice but eventually let the man stay and told him “not to bump into” anyone.

Eventually, the man ran off towards Trump’s motorcade when it approached.

As jeers between the two groups continued, more Trump supporters moved to the sidewalks across the auditorium where for most of the day anti-Trump protesters were. The area was about a hundred yards downhill from the city’s nearest designated demonstration zone.

Trump spends the first 10 minutes of his speech taking aim at his political opponents, before announcing that the theme of the speech is going to be focused on economic issues such as inflation.

“We’re doing this as an intellectual speech,” Trump says.

The signs flanking him onstage suggest that he will focus on policies affecting two of Asheville’s largest constituencies: seniors and service workers.

But just minutes later, Trump is again making personal attacks against Harris, this time taking aim at her laugh.

“What happened to that laugh? I haven’t heard that laugh in about a week. … That’s the laugh of a crazy person,” Trump says.

Trump criticizes the economy under the Biden administration, making claims about rates of unemployment and inflation. The highest rate of unemployment in the last decade was in April 2020, during the Trump administration, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The auditorium greets Trump with a long standing ovation as he enters to Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to Be An American” and stands onstage for several minutes.

The crowd then breaks into a chant of “USA! USA!”

“A big hello to North Carolina. Thank you,” Trump says to cheers.

He gives a shoutout to Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, “the next governor of North Carolina.” And he references Vice President Kamala Harris without naming her, calling her a “radical left person from San Francisco.”

“They’re a threat to democracy,” Trump says of Harris and Biden, turning a familiar Democratic line back against his opponents.

A few minutes later, Trump references his Democratic rival by name: “We’re going to defeat Kamala Harris,” he says, drawing cheers.

Several hundred people who waited in line to hear the former president were turned away from entering the building.

Small groups of anti-Trump protestors remain on the sidewalk opposite of the auditorium where about 2,500 people inside await Donald Trump's speech.

The anti-Trump contigent on the street are exchanging jeers with about a dozen Trump supporters who have not left the line yet. Police started to clear the crowds outside of the auditorium.

Closer to the entrance, another group of about 100 people who didn’t make it inside remain, chanting and waving American flags.

Timed with Trump's campaign event, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement blaming Trump for running "our economy into the ground."

“People in Western North Carolina know when they’re getting played because they experienced it when then-President Donald Trump ran our economy into the ground like he drove his own casinos into bankruptcy, with low wages for working people, fewer jobs and high unemployment," Cooper wrote.

"Trump’s new plan, Project 2025, doubles down on these bad policies where billionaires win and North Carolina families lose. Donald Trump is a bad bet North Carolina can’t afford, while Kamala Harris is a proven winner who’s delivered for our state.”

Cooper dropped out of consideration to be Harris' running mate. The Associated Press reported Cooper was concerned about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, becoming acting governor when Cooper traveled out of state on the campaign trail.

North Carolina lieutenant governor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson takes the stage to cheers and receives a standing ovation from the now-full auditorium.

Robinson, who has been endorsed by Trump, is known for his inflammatory statements about LGBTQ people, women and others.

But today, he notably strikes a different tone, casting himself as a candidate who can persuade voters from across the aisle.

Robinson opens his remarks by talking about a woman he recently met who said she was voting for him and also for Harris. Robinson says he convinced the woman to change her mind.

“How do we get the good times back? We re-elect Donald Trump,” he says.

The crowd is at its most animated so far, bursting out into cheers multiple times during Robinson’s brief remarks.

Robinson criticizes his Democratic opponent, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein. He accused, without offering evidence, Stein's wife of leading a charge against Robinson's wife, Yolanda Hill.

Last month, DHHS ordered Hill's nonprofit to repay $132,000 in federal funding after a review found the organization "seriously deficient." Hill closed the entity in April when the department's Division of Child and Family Well-Being started its investigation, according to reporting from WUNC.

Anna Stein, however, does not work in that division. She is a legal specialist in DHHS' Chronic Disease and Injury Section

Rep. Chuck Edwards takes the stage to rally the crowd by responding to the Harris campaign’s recent slogan, “We’re Not Going Back.”

“We want to go back to a White House run by Donald J. Trump,” Edwards said, prompting cheers from the crowd. “We want to go back. We want to go back to when America was strong."

"Yes, Kamala Harris," he says, "we want to go back, because going back means making America great again.”

Edwards represents the 11th district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He faces democratic nominee Caleb Rudow in the fall.

U.S. Senator Ted Budd follows Edwards, repeating his call for Trump's return to the White House.

“Is this Trump country? YES!" Budd says. “Do you know why we support Donald J. Trump? Because we were better off when he was in the White House.”

We are worse off 4 years later, Budd says. He takes a jab at Vice President Kamala Harris and the Inflation Act.

“That might work in San Francisco but that won’t work in Western North Carolina!” he says.

As droves of Trump supporters continue to make their way towards the entrance of the Thomas Wolfe auditorium, a handful of counterprotestors press as close as they could get to them — across the street and behind a chain link fence.

Bob Carson and his wife Sandy hold signs that read “dump Trump.”

“He’s such a big step backward you have to do something,” Bob says. “I think he epitomizes everything that’s bad about the United States.

Sandy says she is especially worried about women’s reproductive rights and access to abortion.

“They don’t care about taking away all sorts of rights,” she says.

Despite the city designated protest zone about 100 yards uphill, the pair joined about two dozen other people holding signs for Kamala Harris, and against Trump.

The closest zone, a parking lot blocked off by safety-orange fencing has been almost empty for most of the afternoon. The distance from the entrance of the auditorium made it almost impossible to see from the road.

“It’s a real mistake to try to separate the factions. It’s necessary to be here to see exactly what the opponents look like. They should see us we should see them and hopefully learn something.” Bob says.

Gerard Albert III

Margaret Clawson was among the protesters who ditched the designated demonstration zones and stood with a pro-Harris sign.

“I can’t sit back and not say I didn’t do something when the world is on fire especially our country,” she says.

Clawson is a stay at home mother of three who said her focus is on future generations.

“Maybe there are some independent voters in line that maybe this sign might have an impact on them to think of their kids and grandkids and the future,” she says.

Trump's campaign event has officially started with an opening prayer, as is customary at Trump rallies.

After the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. the crowd began chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A."

Attendees continue to take their seats as hundreds of people remain in line outside the venue which holds about 2,500 attendees.

The Trump campaign selected the smaller of the two spaces at the site, the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.

Several dozen supporters gathered at the Buncombe County Democratic Party office in Asheville Wednesday morning for a press conference, responding to Trump’s event.

Entering the room to cheers, State Party Chair Anderson Clayton criticized Trump’s first term.

“North Carolinians know that Donald Trump left our communities out to dry as president of the United States,” Clayton said.

“Driving over 6,000 manufacturing jobs out of North Carolina, leaving rural hospitals on the brink of shutting down, and focusing on getting tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations instead of renewing and rebuilding our infrastructure.”

A fact check earlier this year by PolitiFact found "Trump-signed legislation ... on average (was poised to) cut taxes for households in each income group, but that taxpayers in higher-income households would see the biggest benefits." The fact check used data from an analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, conducted in 2017 while Trump was in office.

Jose Sandoval

In 2020, Trump lost to President Joe Biden in Buncombe County by more than 30,000 votes. But the former reality television star won all of the state’s westernmost counties in the election.

N.C. Rep. Caleb Rudow, who faces U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards in a battle to represent Western North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, emphasized how a second term for Trump would hurt Buncombe County.

“Donald Trump's Project 2025 agenda will jack up prices and weaken the middle class,” Rudow said.

“His plans will raise taxes for working families here by thousands while continuing to cut taxes for those making millions. Trump's disastrous tariff plan will raise prices on everyday items pushing costs up even higher.”

Rudow praised the Democrat's presidential nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, saying: They are “the only candidates fighting for families and fighting for Western North Carolina.”

Less than an hour before the Trump event begins, the mood inside the venue is festive.

Most of the seats on the floor level are full, and attendees are now being seated on the upper level. An upbeat soundtrack is playing on the auditorium’s speakers, including “Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners and Kevin Rowland and “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band.

On stage are more than a dozen American flags, along with two large signs declaring, “No Tax on Social Security” and “No Tax on Tips.”

Lilly Knoepp

Several local Republican elected officials are present, including Rep. Chuck Edwards and state lawmakers from districts further west.

At one point, the crowd burst into cheers when Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, briefly entered through a side door before heading backstage.

Trump's Boeing 757 took off from Palm Beach International Airport, en route to Asheville on Wednesday afternoon, as supporters waited in a line that stretched blocks through downtown.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction for the Asheville airspace during Trump's visit, lasting until late Wednesday.

Airport officials previously told BPR they expect minimal, if any, consumer travel disruptions at AVL.

In downtown, bus route changes, on-street parking closures, and road closures are in effect. For more traffic information, go here.

Eric Rodriguez works at a brewery that’s only a few blocks away from the Trump rally. He says the atmosphere at the brewery has been “chill so far.” But, he says, it feels “pretty strange” to see a Trump rally in Asheville.

“It's pretty obvious that Asheville is kind of like a Democratic (Party) haven as far as North Carolina goes ... It's Asheville, it’s very liberal, it's very eclectic,” he says. “It is a little weird seeing a bunch of red hats walking around.”

As someone who is gay and Mexican, Rodriguez says being around conservative and far-right voices reminds him of when he lived in rural South Carolina and “had to maneuver a bit differently.”

Asheville, he says, has been a “safe haven” for him and people of “different ethnicities, different sexuality and different preferences.”

He also says he worries about the experience his fellow service industry workers may have today.

“I'm a little a little worried for people because a lot of these businesses around here are safe spaces, and I don't want to generalize the crowd that supports Donald Trump, but they tend to not be safe spaces,” he says.

“I am worried a little bit about heckling and just you know, making people uncomfortable as somebody who is in the industry.”

Tyese Palladino, a bartender at The Vault, said “It really sucks," when asked about having the Trump rally in Asheville. Palladino says, due to traffic issues, it was really hard to get into work and that they don’t feel safe at work today.

“The people chanting by were literally just saying ‘fight, fight, fight, fight.’ That was their chant. So I feel like it's a lot of hate in this town right now,” Palladino says.

“This town's known for peace and hippies. I’m super gay and a lot of people in this town are and I'm pretty sure this is, you know, very upsetting to all of them.”

The City of Asheville announced three designated demonstrator zones in advance of the event: 37 Page Avenue, Pritchard Park and Pack Square.

Tony Bayless is speaking out against Trump in one of the zones.

Bayless says he stayed up all night making a double-faced sign that reads “We’re not going back” on one side and “Hope over fear” on the other side.

Laura Hackett

Bayless says he is advocating for unity today across the whole community.

“If we're not unified then we're divided,” he says. “Can a household of a family be divided and keep their house together without burning it down or killing each other? No. So if we're America, let's try to find that.”

He also says he supports the designated protest zones, which are the result of a new policy from the Asheville Police Department.

“I think it's really smart,” he says. “That way we're not spitting on each other, you know across a line or throwing things or screaming and shaking offenses, like in a riot zone. So I get it. It's just smart. The city was being very wise.”

Political expert and Western Carolina University professor Chris Cooper stopped by BPR after observing the line outside of the venue.

“It almost feels like a festival atmosphere. Like if the Grateful Dead came back as Trump supporters they would be at this rally,” Cooper says. “It’s a strange look but lots of signs, lots of t-shirts, no violence, no one is yelling at anyone else. At least thus far, it’s peaceful.”

Trump’s visit to the battleground state underscores its importance on the national stage. The majority of voters in the state and the region are registered as unaffiliated. These voters are key to both campaigns. BPR asked Cooper if this rally is designed to change minds.

“Absolutely not. People came out to this rally either because they support Trump or because they are anti-Trump. They are not moveable voters. They are not persuadable voter,” Cooper says.

“What these rallies do, in Trump’s ideal world, is they mobilize voters. They get people off the couch. They get people to donate money. They get people to put signs up. They get people to get their friends to vote. Trump is a mobilization candidate, not a persuasion candidate.”

Trump’s campaign says the rally will focus on the economy and cost of living. Cooper says he expects Trump will reiterate some talking points but he may, as he often does, go off-script. Cooper also expects the former president to talk specifically about the region.

“So in addition to him talking about the economy, which is the point of the speech, I’m very curious to see if he talks about the city of Asheville, and if he does I imagine it will not be in the most positive light.”

Eighty-two-year-old Charlie Duckett of Madison County arrived in Asheville at 8 a.m. to line up for a chance to participate in the Trump campaign event.

A Vietnam veteran, Duckett was wearing a "Veterans for Trump" T-shirt and sat in a blue lawn chair while waiting to enter the venue. He says his experience waiting to enter two previous Trump rallies in Charlotte and Fayetteville had taught him to bring a seat.

Felicia Sonmez

"I've been to Trump rallies before," he says with a laugh.

Duckett says he is a longtime Trump supporter and is most concerned about the U.S. border with Mexico, which he calls "a travesty."

"Ronald Reagan was my commander-in-chief, and he was a great president. And Trump is equally as great as Reagan. ... I just pray every day that Trump wins," Duckett says.

Carol Rhine, 75, and Martha Blake, 78, two lifelong friends from Pinehurst, stand in line just in front of Duckett. They drove four hours to Cherokee last night and then an hour from Cherokee to Asheville this morning.

Rhine is wearing an "I'm Voting for the Felon" T-shirt, while Blake dons a "Make America Great Again" shirt. Both said their top issues this year are the economy, health care and the border.

"We need to get Republicans in control," Rhine said.

"We think Trump can take us there. ... I'm going to stay positive," Blake adds. "I'm pretty sure he's going to get elected. We're rooting for that, anyway."

Many of the Trump supporters waiting outside the venue arrived early Wednesday morning and were waiting for two or three hours. Some said they wanted to see the former president when he campaigned in Charlotte last month but couldn't make it.

The economy and security along the U.S. border with Mexico were the top two issues mentioned by many in line.

"We are here because we're going to make sure we get low interest rates, gas prices down and drill, baby, drill. You know, that kind of thing?" Kelly Waldroup, a Trump supporter from Marshall, said while waiting to enter the venue.

"That's what we're waiting for. ... And the border is just a disaster. I have never in my life seen so many people come in like that."

Waldroup said she arrived around 8 a.m., and was pleased with the job law enforcement was doing at maintaining order at the event site so far.

During a previous Trump event in Asheville in 2016, Waldroup said, "it was a madhouse." This time, protesters are limited to three "demonstration zones" away from the event site.

"This time, right here, they have really done a great job. Asheville's done a really great job," Waldroup said.

As of 9:30 a.m., several hundred Trump supporters have lined up on the Haywood Street sidewalk, waiting to enter the Harrah's Cherokee Center.

It is a comfortable 70 degrees out, and under the partly cloudy skies, attendees are in good spirits, with some occasionally breaking out into chants of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" or "USA! USA!"

The line stretches on for several blocks, ending around the Mobilia furniture shop on the corner of West Walnut Street.

Vendors are stationed on every block, some hawking apparel and others selling cardboard cutouts of former president Trump and the former first lady, Melania Trump.

Felicia Sonmez

Several people in line are wearing T-shirts referencing last month's assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania, with slogans such as, "Bulletproof" or "Fight!"

David McGinley was among them. The Weaverville resident, who took the day off work to attend the rally, was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with an image of Trump shortly after the assassination attempt - raising his fist in the air and with blood streaked along his cheek.

Felicia Sonmez

"Oh, I was watching it live. My wife screamed bloody murder," McGinley says of the day of the shooting.

McGinley says immigration and the economy are the issues that are top of mind for him this year.

"I make real good money. And we're still struggling," he says.