North Carolina chose not to officially participate in President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair in Washington, DC, but the state still ended up in the middle of one of the fair’s biggest controversies.
A privately organized North Carolina booth at the fair drew national attention after a video display in the exhibit showed a Confederate flag image. The image was removed after NC Gov. Josh Stein’s office issued a strongly worded statement condemning it.
“This flag does not represent the North Carolina that we love,” Stein’s office said. “America 250 is about unity and bringing our nation together. Glorifying this divisive confederate symbol does the exact opposite. We demand the organizers stop dishonoring the flag of North Carolina.”
One Facebook poster stated below a story about the controversy that he had no problem about the confederate flag being shown as long as they showed the rea one. His post was accompanied by an image of a flying white flag of surrender.
The Great American State Fair is part of the Trump-backed Freedom 250 celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday. The event, which opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to run from June 25 through July 10, with a major Independence Day celebration planned for July 4.
Trump also announced this week that he was moving the fireworks display in Washington from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and said he will give a speech beforehand. He posted on Truth Social that this July 4 celebration will be “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ‘TRIBUTE TO AMERICA.’”
Freedom 250 bills the fair as a large national exposition featuring state and territory pavilions, business displays, music, carnival rides, military flyovers, cultural programming and a 110-foot Ferris wheel on the National Mall. The event is free and open to the public though many visitors have complained about the high prices at the concession stands.
A lemonade at the fair will set you back $9. Stuffed Pretzel Rolls vary from $12 to $25 and one serving of Turkey Legs will cost you $23.
The fair has drawn controversy even before the July 4 celebration. Every major musical act planned for the event pulled out when they realized it was turning from a national celebration into a partisan event. The only major act that didn’t pull out was Vanilla Ice. But his show was cancelled due to weather and, after that, he was never rescheduled to perform.
North Carolina was among the states that declined to send an official state delegation to the event. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said the decision was based on budget and staffing limits. WUNC reported that state officials estimated it would cost more than $100,000 to set up a pavilion in DC.
Instead, the state said it would focus its resources on America 250 events in North Carolina, including a July 4 event at the State Capitol in Raleigh.
However, a North Carolina booth did appear at the fair after private sponsors stepped in: SPEVCO, Richard Childress Racing and Operation Helo were the primary sponsors of the North Carolina pavilion.
SPEVCO, a Winston-Salem company that builds custom exhibits, provided a custom trailer. Richard Childress Racing provided the No. 3 car and a racing simulator. Operation Helo, a Cornelius-based volunteer disaster relief group, provided a display and venue support.
The theme of the North Carolina pavilion was “The Spirit of North Carolina: First in Flight, Fast on the Track, Strong in the Storm.” The Carolina Journal reported that the booth was meant to feature the Wright brothers’ first flight, North Carolina’s racing heritage, Hurricane Helene response efforts, agriculture, workforce development, innovation and the state’s “First in Freedom” motto.
That carefully planned message was overshadowed when the Confederate flag image appeared in a video display.
The booth was operated by private sponsors and wasn’t organized by the State of North Carolina or connected to state officials.
Mt. Olive Pickles, one of the North Carolina companies associated with the pavilion, withdrew from the event after the controversy. The company said it was unaware the image was included in the display.
That flap was one more problem for an event that’s already been criticized as being too political, too Trump-focused and, lightly attended.
The first days of the fair have drawn sparse crowds, though organizers hope that the July 4 holiday weekend will bring bigger ones. Several states declined to send official delegations, with some citing cost and concerns that the event had taken on a partisan tone.
The fair is being run by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership created by the White House to coordinate 250th anniversary celebrations along with federal agencies. That has caused confusion with America250, the bipartisan national semiquincentennial effort created by Congress in 2016.
The Washington Post reported earlier this year that America250 and Freedom 250 were both involved in the 250th anniversary celebration, with America250 operating as the congressionally authorized bipartisan effort and Freedom 250 emerging as the Trump-backed organization tied to high-profile events in Washington.
The Post also reported that the two groups were set to share in $150 million appropriated by Congress and managed by the Interior Department.
The cost and funding of the celebration have become part of the controversy. Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project, two watchdog groups often critical of the Trump administration, released a report this month saying that nearly $103 million in federal contracts and grants for 250th anniversary celebrations had gone to what the groups described as a politicized network of entities. The report said that, of $126 million in grants awarded to celebrate the 250th anniversary, more than 80 percent had gone toward events and entities connected to the Trump-backed Freedom 250 effort.
Freedom 250 has defended the celebration as a national event meant to honor American history and bring people together.
But online critics have been mocking it relentlessly. Photos and videos of sparse crowds, empty-looking spaces and lightly attended areas of the fair have circulated widely on social media. YouTube channels and political commentators have also posted videos ridiculing the turnout and comparing the upbeat claims about the fair with images showing large open areas and thin crowds. In one video, (see photo above) a large musical group was performing on stage and there were literally more people on stage than in the audience.
Snopes examined one widely circulated image showing sparse crowds at the fair and found that the image was real, though it noted that the photo was taken on opening day before crowds later picked up.
For North Carolina, the political irony is that the state tried to avoid spending public money on the Washington event and instead concentrate on its own America 250 celebration. However, once private sponsors created a North Carolina presence at the fair, the state still got pulled into the national story.
And, instead of the Wright brothers, NASCAR, Hurricane Helene relief or “First in Freedom,” the North Carolina booth became known for a Confederate flag image that the governor’s office said dishonored the state
Nothing says ‘Murica’ better than a political rally where one side spews hateful rhetoric and lies about the other side and than has a firework show well after the average family has put their kids to bed.
Too bad we have a president that demands we celebrate him versus celebrating our Great country.
Too bad that we have a country that 50% are so filled with hate for one human being. I thought Obama was wrong for America and that he was the wrong Black man to represent achievements of Black Americans, but I did not hate him. How can anyone hate another person they do not know but impugn motives that they have no idea about.
As far as putting kids to bed, I personally think celebrating our country’s 250th is reason enough to stay up late for an event they can relate to for the rest of their lives.
Remember, the Celebration Fair is entrance free. For someone to reject the Fair and the fireworks because they hate Trump, the saying is, cutting off your nose to spite your face. People who do this are dufuses, stupid, incompetent, and foolish.
Trump himself has now referred to the event as a political rally. His words. Not mine. He took funds from the bipartisan 250 celebration to fund his own political rally. So yeah, he is a POS. Want to count the ways he has hurt America….this is only a drop in thr bucket.
There is a big difference between a political rally and a partisan rally. No, I do not want to count anything, but I’m sure you do. Go ahead and waste your time hating President Trump. It will only make your little life more miserable, give you headaches, and high blood pressure.
Wait…. are you claiming Trump won’t use his 250 rally to say ugly insulting lies about Democrats? If so, wanna bet? Wanna toss in that he also ises it to promote how great he is with a piles of lies and misinformation?
Trump is incapable of being partisan any time he speaks.
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Well said, TermLimits.
Leftists are the real haters.
Says the guy who spews insults and uses childish name calling in his repsonses to me. Lol, the hypocrisy is thick with this guy.
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According you some trenchant and well deserved insults is not the same as hating you.
I don’t hate you. I pity you.
There goes our third grade professor again
“wanna bet”. What an elementary intellect he has. God Bless America and President Trump!!!
Happy Birthday America
Ole no Austin, here we go again our third grade professor “wanna bet”. I don’t think I’ve heard that since elementary school. Grow the heck up professor
It does not take a PHD to know If we had standard time year ’round perhaps Perfesser Karen could allow her perfectly little groomed Trump haters to watch the fireworkS. It does not take a PHD to know fireworkS needs to be after sunset and has an S at the end. Most ‘Muricans also know the difference between “then” and “than”. I could go on about “average” children being allowed to stay up for special occasions on a summer’s Saturday night, and the Perfesser’s idea about what exactly is an average family and the flexibility of an average family etc., but obviously there is very little extry room in her brainbox for anything but Trump.
Professor (not really) , I hope you saw and heard President Trump speaking yesterday. It was really heartwarming and motivating
God Bless America and President Trump
WE THE PEOPLE have been so involved in political division that we’ve forgotten what brought this country together. Sadly this division (also known as selfishness, greed, and racism) is going to be the death of our once civilized nation.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL, AND GOD BLESS THE USA
You have got to remember that Governor Stein suffers from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”. Had this been a Biden or Obama event You can rest assured that North Carolina would have been officially represented at this event. As for the Confederate flag I really feel that the majority of people who display that flag do so because it represents their southern heritage.
Exactly what “southern heritage” is it that deserves to be honored and celebrated? The one where whites enslaved people for free labor or the one where enslaved people were forced into free labor, raped, sold as property, had families torn apart, and had their “heritage” stripped from them. Please tell us.
Easy there Thomas, you don’t want to blow a gasket. I for one am very proud of my Southern Heritage everyone should be. Myself nor any of my past descendants ever owned slaves, I would never think about it. Maybe you should go back a couple hundred years and a few countries removed from the US and ask the people of those countries why they chose to capture and sell their own people to someone else Maybe you can find the answer you’re looking for
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Southerners possess a universal graciousness, kindliness, and Faith that is foreign to crass Yankees like you, Thomas.
You’ll never understand.
Southerners have a long history of ignorance ,hatred and racism. And THAT is the southern heritage they want to protect by flying the confederate flag.
Cheers
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There isn’t an original or insightful thought in this guy’s head.
Just hackneyed hateful Leftist tropes, full of spite and spleen.
Thomas, slavery is not the only thing that took place in American history. Slavery was a blip on the history of America considering our history in totality. You were never a slave and I would wager, neither were your ancestors. So what? It doesn’t matter in 2026.
As far as a slave’s heritage, their heritage was not European but African. The slave’s heritage was tribal. That’s why many slaves were returned to Africa. There was a realization that there was a vast difference in European and African culture.
The 50% who hate America are in favor of open borders. Why? Aside from the fact that the 50% are viewed as hateful people, their desire is to flood America with so many different cultures in order to damage the very country whose founders (all White men) created a government that allows this 50% the freedom to hate America.
As far as free labor, slaves were housed, clothed, and provided rudimentary care such as it was at the time.
The fact that Blacks still cling to the idea of slavery shows Blacks’ lack of self-worth (self-imposed,) and resentment that goes back over 150 years and is used as a crutch for individual failure.
Claiming TDS while at the same time bringing up Obama and Biden is kinda hysterical.
Perfect example of irony: A person riddled with TDS using the word “hysterical” when describing someone who simply mentions another president bearing no scorn to them personally.
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“Professor” Chris (he’s not really a professor) is suffering from early stage dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease in my opinion, Cheryl.
That’s the stage when their ability to filter themselves socially starts to break down, like a drunk who’ll say anything.
Still functional, but they spout their true feelings very readily.
Trump is the sitting president whose policies are activily changing the country for worse….and your only defense is to say TDS… and then spew something something Obama and somthing something Biden. Lol. Riiiiiiight.
The State of NC choosing not to celebrate In the National State Fair is embarrassing to us loyal citizens and shows a complete lack of unbiassed patriotism. This is our 250th birthday and should be celebrated and not limited by political positions. Our Governor is an idiot to have allowed this lack of participation and shows a strong basis that lacks common sense. $100,000 really?? You guys in Raleigh waste that amount in a weekend.
This is Trump’s event….not the bipartisan 250 event that Trump reallocated funds away from….THAT is the real embarrassment….especially Trump’s arch he wants build to honor himself. Not shocked attendance is so poor.
Attendance is low because of the hatred for Donald Trump. Those who hate Trump would rather deny themselves and their children the pleasure of the event. Now the adults can tell their grandchildren that they refused to attend because they hated Donald Trump. A proud moment? I doubt it. More like “what was I thinking?”
I know people who are there today enjoying the Fair. They are all proud Americans.
F Josh stien
On behalf of of J Stein, F you too you racist POS!
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F Josh Stein. F you too, you grandstanding, trite, tit.
Careful Thomas , there are still a few
“old fashioned” woodsheds around.
“ Stein’s office said. “America 250 is about unity and bringing our nation together.” Uh huh. Democrat Stein could not get past his obvious partisanship to provide representation for the state of North Carolina. Shame on Governor Stein!!!
Josh Stein was born in Washington DC to Jewish parents who moved to Charlotte, NC and later Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Democrat Party, soon to become the Socialist Democrat Party. He graduated from Harvard Law School. Why does Harvard Law School and Governor of NC sound like an oxymoron. He does not share native North Carolinas’ sensibilities. If the Confederate Flag offends Stein, he is not right for NC.
The Confederate Flag represents defiance to a powerful government; this is why it is flown at events where the action of government represents perceived suppression, e.g. January 6th.
Money had nothing to do with Stein not sending an exhibit to the 250th America celebration. Why lie? Just say, “I don’t like Donald Trump, and I will not support him in any endeavor.” Stein has future political ambitions. He is not right for NC, and he certainly isn’t right for any future political ambitions regardless of his father’s ambitions.
In 1960 at the Centennial of the War Between the States, two record albums were recorded at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC: one was the music of the South (Confederacy) during the War, and the other the music of the North (Union.) Both albums were filled with pictures, writings, and copies of letters. The Confederate States’ secession at that time was not widely viewed as an act of treason but rather an action granted by the Tenth (10) Amendment.
Many different flags were flown by the Confederacy during the War, but it is the Battle Flag Josh Stein and his ilk have fixated. It is a symbol used to gain undeserved recognition by portraying the flag as a symbol of hate. If there is any hostility and aversion intertwined with the Battle Flag, it is directed at government whose actions are suppressive and government that uses censorship under the guise of rejecting “hate” as Josh Stein did with condemning the Confederate Battle Flag at a 250th Anniversary booth that Stein refused to participate in because of his and other Socialist Democrats’ hatred of Donald Trump.
Hear! Hear!
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Yes, The War for Southern Independence was, at its core, the question of whether the states have the right to leave the Union they formed. Naturally this was never questioned initially. In fact, the first serious consideration of secession occurred n New England before the 18th Century was out. They never pursued the impulse, but the Southern states did, only to discover that the right to self-determination did not apply to them.
It was fine & dandy when the 13 Colonies chose to secede from the British Empire, but an unspeakable outrage when the Confederacy did the same.
So, who was the worse control freak? King George III or Abraham Lincoln?
Oh, and one thing I did not mention. The Confederate Battle Flag was emblazoned on the front of the Confederate album. Just a short five years later, America changed forever into what it is today; censorship through suppression of speech by threats of consequences. And a country invaded by people who despise America and/or come here to commit fraud by taking advantage of our country’s goodwill. Why would someone who hates America come here? Easy answer, they come here to destroy America from within. Something that would have been unthinkable prior to 1965. Even our Supreme Court is part of the destruction. Trump and Congress, please pass a law immediately that bans anchor babies and sperm babies.
Confederate flag became a symbol against desegragation that promoted bigotry and racism. Claiming that never happened and now changing the meaning is just a lie told to whitewash the history of the South’s racist history.
Cheers
Professor, who is “whitewashing” the history of slavery. I will mention that slavery was legal in all states at the time, and slavery existed in all states. It was not a “southern thing.”
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The Professor sure is a bitter, twisted little man, huh?
Lincoln was a hypocrite who sought only to prevent the dissolution of the Union. His political requirements demanded an issue to turn it into a moral crusade, and he found that in slavery when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation – as the nation neared its third year of war.
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if i could do it by freeing some and leaving the others alone I would also do that”
– Abraham Lincoln, 1862.
He couldn’t have cared less about the slaves…. until they gave him an air of moral superiority with which to prosecute his foul war.
TERMLIMITS,
“He is a member of the Democrat Party, soon to become the Socialist Democrat Party.”
I want to ask you sir if I would be out of place and make a slight correction to that sentence?
‘He is a member of the Democrat Party, soon to become the National Socialist Democrat Party.’
Just asking.
Yes, good correction. I like it!
.
Jewish liberal Washington, DC lawyer…. representing North Carolina???
Er…. no.
But no.
Josh Stein…another bobble head leftist. His actions along with others just show what schools are really teaching. So much for a birthday celebration and a review of our history.
It has turned into just another political event of the left vrs the right. So to hell with Josh Stein and soon to be socialist democratic party.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA
How is the Arch Trump wants built in his own honor promoting history? It os a center piece of his event on the National Mall funded by his taking funds away from the bipartisan 250 celebration fund so he could have a rally.
Why don’t all you losers jab a flag up your arse and sing Yankee doodle, the dukes of hazzard song, and the star splattered banjo and eat northern beans for aunt bee and clara edwards
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Why don’t you eff off back up North, Yankee Asshole?
Go live in your squalid sorry freezing socialist [Deleted] states.
My family immigrated here in 1692 and has been in North Carolina since before there was a United States. One of my ancestors died fighting the British at the Battle of Alamance in 1771 — five years before the Declaration — for standing up against corrupt colonial government. Ninety years later, that same family of small farmers, who owned no slaves, stood up again when an army marched toward their homes. I’m proud of both. Standing your ground for home and community runs deep in this state, and I won’t apologize for honoring it. My ancestors, who never owned a slave, also fought at Guilford Courthouse and died in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
But honoring my ancestors doesn’t require pretending about the war itself. The men who broke the country — the political leadership in Richmond and Columbia and Montgomery — wrote down exactly why they did it, and it was slavery. My people fought their war for them. There’s a reason “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” was a saying inside the Confederacy itself, while planters got exemptions and small farmers bore the conscription and the casualties.
And let’s also be honest about the North, because the cartoon version of history doesn’t hold up either. Four slave states fought for the Union, and slavery stayed legal in Kentucky and Delaware until December 1865 — months after Appomattox. Lincoln, in a letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, dated August 22, 1862, said plainly he’d “save the Union without freeing a single slave if he could”. Let’s not forget that many Northern states had laws barring free Black people from settling there. Nobody’s hands were clean, and Northern hypocrisy was real. But hypocrisy is a charge against the accuser, not a defense of the thing itself. The North being racist too doesn’t make slavery, or secession to protect it, any better.
Which brings me to the flag at the booth. My family’s story at the Battle of Alamance, the Regulators, farmers defending home doesn’t need that flag to carry it. That flag got its modern meaning in the 1950s and 60s when it was revived to resist integration, and that’s how it lands today, whether we like it or not. Putting it in a state pavilion at the country’s 250th birthday wasn’t honoring anybody’s ancestors. It was handing our critics the story and burying everything the booth was supposed to be about. If you’re proud of North Carolina heritage, and your family’s part in it for 250 years, it doesn’t come with an asterisk.
Including that flag was a poor decision….as was our governor and many others’ decision not to participate in celebrating the country’s achievements beyond the political BS that pervades everything we do today.
Thank you Jerry. I could not have said it better. I personally don’t have a Confederate flag, I don’t need one to be proud of my Southern heritage.
Happy Fourth of July to all Americans be safe and Honor the reason we are allowed to celebrate this day and year.
MONGO JERRY
I salute you sir, your heritage and your accurate knowledge (unlike some others) of this subject
Alan told me about his uncle James K. Marshall that commanded the 52nd NC Infantry Regiment in Pettigrew’s Brigade on the left flank of the charge. When Heth was wounded and Pettigrew took command of the division, he took command of the brigade and took them up to the Union lines where he was killed. According to the book “With That Cool Courage” about Col. Marshall, he was reported to urge his men forward shouting “”Now Colonel, for the honor of the good Old North State, forward!” He was killed by a shot to the head shortly after on this day, July 3rd 1863.
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But one of my ancestors fought at both the Battle of Salamanca, and Waterloo, and another nearly drowned in WW II off the coast of Egypt.
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Mongo Jerry,
I respect you, your thoughtful comments, and your ancestors’ commitment to this country. I have nothing that can compare, as just a recent immigrant.
But I too am thoughtful and I believe the ex post facto hijacking of the Confederate Battle Flag should not demean it. After all, the KKK routinely display the US Flag – but that does not mean that the American Flag is a symbol of bigotry and hatred.
We today are not responsible for the meaning others will ascribe to our icons a hundred years hence.
The contemporaneous display of the Confederate Battle Flag was honorable and decent, and I’m sure your ancestors were proud to fight under it at the time they did so.
It should not be sullied over a century later by people who use it cynically to score political points.
Historical revisionism is a classic tool of spin and deception, and is a favored tool of the Left.
Mongo Jerry, I am not trying to compete with your family history. But my ancestor arrived in Maryland from England in 1676. He was a tailer by trade and began his life in his new home, acquiring land. He nor his family owned slaves. One of my ancestors was with George Washington and his troops. His name can be accessed on the Internet.
I am proud of the Battle Flag and have no reservation about displaying it. Yes, it was used in the 1950s and 1960s to resist desegregation of public schools. Blacks could have walked with their feet to another state of their choosing if they did not like Southern schools. But they chose a different route. Yes, schools are now desegrated. But schools are also passing kids who cannot read or write at grade level. Blacks did much better in schools before desegregation.
In the words of Jefferson Davis in his “Short History of the Confederate States of America” in 1890, “ignorance and credulity have enabled unscrupulous partisans so to mislead public opinion, both at home and abroad, as to create the belief that the institution of African slavery was the chief cause, instead of being a mere incident in the group of causes, which led to the war.”
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Yep.
It took Lincoln and the Yankees a long time to claim the war was about slavery, didn’t it? Because it was really about holding the Union together. The war wasn’t going well for the North initially, and Lincoln needed a cause to hang it on, an issue that would rally the troops – and he found it in slavery.
His latter day conversion to the cause smacks of hypocrisy and political expediency. His real feelings about slavery are exposed in the quotation from his letter to Horace Greely, as outlined in my comment above.
One more thing. Lincoln was the first to wage “total war”. That is, a war on civilians and civilian farms, communities and infrastructure. Sherman’s March through the South was unprecedented in its horror and brutality against non-combatants.
Hitler was not the first to wage Total War – Lincoln was.
I am now 70 years old, soon to be 71…..many families in the state share the same family history and just do not realize it. I knew about my family member at the Battle of Alamance but little else. But I was lucky enough to have a family member who spent her life researching the family history and discovered the rest. Interestingly, the first ancestor arrived as an indentured servant in1692. After completing his “contract,” he settled in what is now Pennsylvania. He had 8 children, some of whom remained in the area and some who moved south and settled in what is now Randolph County. During the Civil War, the family members fought on both sides…possibly facing each other at some point. The family member who died was fighting for the Union.
Clearly, the war was a sad moment in time for our country. I often wonder what things would be like today had 620,000 young men not died horribly on some plot of land or a field hospital a long way from home and family. When I think about that, I don’t think about their flags or even why they might have decided to fight. I just admire everyone for their fortitude and courage….not their flags.
I understand people being upset about the Confederate battle flag of North Carolina being displayed at the PRIVETLY funded and run State booth, but if the (sorry) State government decided to not participate, for whatever reason, how do they feel they have the right to condemn and demand the removal of the display of the battle flag, a symbol and part of the history (right or wrong) of the Old State which is what the booth was supposed to be for.
The pickle company decided to pull their support which, as a private company, is their right and privilege. But the spineless wimps in the State legislature decided to show their contempt for Trump by not sponsoring the booth…oh, I’m sorry, they couldn’t afford it (nice bob and weave there professional politicians).
I was born and raised in the North but my heritage is here. My (multi-great) Uncle died leading the charge of the Confederate left flank on July 3rd at Gettysburg and I am as proud of him as I am of the Uncle that died as a POW in the Pacific in WWII.
We are not a perfect country but by God and the Great Jehovah we are as close as you can get.
The Commie governor decided to boycott this national event.
North Carolina carried Trump big in the election, both times, so why didn’t we participate? We are a Republican, Trump supporting state.
Our state legislature is Republican. Our state always carries the Republican candidate. We are a conservative state and always will be.