Still in-the-tank. Still lying.
We already showed you the receipts on Fox News’ duplicity in covering North Carolina’s 2026 US Senate race. Now here we come with two more similar examples from the state’s drive-by media community.
The game being played in Drive-by Land appears to be to pretend: (1) there will be NO GOP primary for US Senate in March, and (2) Michael Whatley IS THE NCGOP candidate for US Senate, and (3) GOP candidate, military veteran, former prosecutor and MAGA activist Don Brown simply does not exist.
Here we go with a text conversation between a campaign aide to Don Brown and the program director of WBT – Charlotte’s News Talk:
Okay. SO, the rule apparently is: In order to get interviewed on WBT radio in Charlotte, you MUST be a filed candidate for office (or have a special place in the heart of at least ONE WBT staffer).
Filing for the US Senate race starts on December 1. If the rule Mr. Schaefer cites is TRUE, why then has Mike Whatley been mentioned and interviewed numerous times on WBT radio since announcing for US Senate? NO ONE has filed for the office.
There is abundant evidence out there that Mr. Brown was running for the GOP nomination months before Whatley announced his candidacy. Don Brown and Mike Whatley both spoke — as US Senate candidates — at the recent Salt & Light conference in western North Carolina this past weekend.
Speaking of Salt & Light — McClatchy News (which owns the drive-by rags in Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and other locations) covered the conference. The drive-by from McClatchy covered Whatley’s speech to the event, but failed to even mention Brown’s attendance at or speech to the event.
(To be fair, I will give the McClatchy reporter props for quoting a western North Carolina resident bashing Whatley for his poor job in allegedly leading hurricane relief in that region. Whatley and his campaign are making a huge deal of his appointment to the relief post by The White House.)
Drive-bys love to boast about their alleged leadership in keeping the public informed. HOW are you doing that when you are purposely failing to give your viewers, readers, and /or listeners complete information about the upcoming elections?
The Carolina Plotthound — which has been neutered even worse than its inspiration, The Drudge Report — will not admit the existence of GOP US Senate candidates other than Mike Whatley. (Funny though, they have publicized a very interesting primary challenger to Thom Tillis meat-puppet Chuck Edwards.)
John Locke – founded as a conservative counter-establishment operation – has been transformed into a propaganda organ for the NCGOPe and General Assembly leadership. They’ve paid for at least two polls that fast-forward to November 2026 and their dream match-up of Mike Whatley v. Roy Cooper. That’s right. Keep the little people in the dark. (Never mind that primary *foolishness* in March.)
This is the kind of hard-nosed stuff you see more often in authoritarian banana-republic environments.
Never mind that the Trump Team’s previous attempts to meddle in state politics have mostly ended in a toes-up position. (See Dr. Oz in PA, incumbents Perdue and Loeffler in GA, Herschel Walker in GA, among others.)
The GOPe likes to argue that we need to go all in on Whatley because (a) he is a *great fundraiser* and (b) can beat Roy Cooper.
Whatley was pulled out of obscurity in 2019 to be installed as state GOP chairman. Six years later, Raleigh is ready to make him US senator.
Whatley’s entire tenure at the state party was marked by the Republican National Committee and the legislative leadership parking their accrued cash in the state party’s accounts. He had little to no involvement in the arrival or appearance of that money.
DC and Raleigh are trying to make us think Whatley won North Carolina for Trump. Mike Whatley could have moved to The Arctic Circle for the entire 2016, 2020, and 2024 election cycles, and Donald Trump would have still won the state.
I’ve seen at least four polls showing Cooper beating Whatley by a significant margin. There is actually polling showing a *generic Republican* doing better against Cooper than Whatley does.
Where’s that highly-touted evidence he can win in November? I thought finding a winner for November was what you did in a primary. But the *wise ones* in Raleigh are trying to make us forget all about that.
What the MSM wants to happen in November 2026 is the election of Comrade Roy Cooper. They are always in the tank for the Dems. So why are they pushing Whatley so hard right now in our primary? Do they perceive that Whatley would be the easiest for Cooper to beat? I cannot think of another reason these political propagandists in the lefty media would be taking that position.
Right now it looks like Whatley and Brown will be our two choices. There is probably not another lane available for anyone else to get in at this point unless they already had huge name recognition or huge self funding cash available. Before the field formed my choice of an ideal opponent to Tillis and then Cooper would have been former Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin, now Dean of the Law School at High Point University. Mark is a better campaigner than either of the current candidates, is a proven winner statewide, a solid conservative, and has a great personal story. I don’t know if he ever even thought about it, but he could have crushed Tillis and then eliminated Cooper.. I do know that Mark at one time had thought about the governor’s race some years ago, and he would be a great candidate for that in 2028.
Did the drive-by media and NCGOP pull the same stunt with Mark Robinson vs Dale Folwell before the 2024 Primary for Governor, well… until the hit piece on Mark came out.
Carol, immediately this thought came to me. Robinson’s issues were kept silent purposely until the general was over. Immediately became headlines daily thereafter. The press, media, dems and some gop KNEW Robinson was cooked after securing the nomination. The loss was double digits and again, the press, media, dems and some gop knew the outcome was secure for Stein. This website put those issues at the forefront well before the general election; yet far too many kept their heads in the sand.
The Robinson scandal also hurt the party down the line, being a factor in the Supreme Court and Council of State losses, as well as some close legislative races. It hurt the entire ticket. The whole situation could have been handled a lot better by the state party, and if we still had the type of leadership we used to with chairmen like Jack Hawke and Dave Flaherty, it would have been.. At best NCGOP was asleep at the switch. Has anything changed for 2026? I hope so, but don’t see it yet.
We know Governor Folwell would have been NC’s moderate Republican legislature’s worst nightmare. Folwell, a true conservative at heart with years of experience and clout, would have required the Republicans to send bills to his desk that aligned with the Party’s platform. The pseudo-Republican leadership would have lost their power.
I can understand why people believe the Berger and Co leadership team played a part in the timing of the Robinson hit piece since the result was their dream come true.
Any time the GOPe coronates a candidate prior to a primary election, the grassroot voters must turnout and vote for the opponent. Otherwise the grift continues at full speed.