July 24, 2025 • 33 mins
Tune in here to this Thursday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen kicks the show off by talking about the developing political buzz surrounding Michael Whatley and the extreme heat wave gripping the region. Brett breaks down the Politico report suggesting Whatley will announce his U.S. Senate run as early as next week—news Brett hinted at on last night’s show. He recaps Whatley's rise through the GOP ranks, his current role leading the RNC, and the growing belief that Whatley may be Trump's pick for the North Carolina Senate seat.
Later, Jensen sits down with former Gaston County GOP Chairman Robert King to discuss the potential U.S. Senate candidacy of Michael Whatley and his long-standing influence in North Carolina politics. King, who worked closely with Whatley during their respective tenures leading local and state Republican efforts, describes Whatley as a mentor, a tireless strategist, and a grounded, humble community member.
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
To be the first to hear about Breaking Brett Jensen's exclusives and more follow him on X @Brett_Jensen!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi oh, let's go hi oh, let's go. Oh, Let's
go oh, let's come. News Talk eleven ten and Monday
nine three WBT Brett Jensen here with you on this
Thursday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen. As we
go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven oh four, five,
(00:44):
seven oh eleven ten. Guys, make sure you follow me
on x at Brett Underscore Jensen for all the latest
and breaking news in and around the Shad area. And
I swear to you it's like, uh and we're believe me.
We know what the main story of the day is.
And I'm sure they been discussing it since about seven
am this morning on WBT, and it's all about Michael Whally.
(01:06):
I I don't know how they have it, but you
would assume that's what the people have been discussing, just
like everyone was discussing Roy Cooper yesterday and the stuff
that came out this morning at What Political came out
with a story about Michael Whally.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And by the way, last night on this very.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Show, I told you at the end of the show
last night when we were discussing the Republicans that Michael
Whalley was very much in it, and depending on who
you talk to, they will tell you he was the
front runner. So, like I said, I heard last week
that he was very very much so into the potential
(01:44):
and possibility of becoming or getting the nod from Donald
Trump and running for US Senate.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And I told you guys that last night.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And lo and Beholds seven hours or twelve hours later,
bought a boom Bay dea Bang Political comes out with
a port that Michael Whalley's announcing next week.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Now it should be noted, it should be noted.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Michael Watley is going to be on Brett Winnable tomorrow
should be noted. And will he make the announcement tomorrow
on Winnable show?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Maybe maybe he makes national news on the Brett Winnable
Show tomorrow, or maybe he waits until next week. According
to Politico when he was going to announce it sometime
next week.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So we'll see. We'll see. But when I say it
feels like armageddon.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
The uh, the weather people, they are going crazy right
now because it's supposed to be like in triple digits
like every day next week. And I'm looking at it
and it says the heat in decks. Saturday is one
hundred and ten, then one hundred and nine, Sunday one
hundred and nine, Monday one hundred and nine, Tuesday one
hundred and nine Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
People are losing.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Their ever loving minds right now, going, oh my god,
I know, and trust me, we're going to get back
to Watley in a second.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
But here's the thing. We live in the South.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We literally go through this every single year, usually late June, July, August. Like,
this is what we do, this is it, And I
got news for you.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know what usually happens in January and February we
get ice or snow.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
How about that shocker, Like we don't get the blizzards.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Sometimes they'll get a little bit more, you know, a
few inches here or there. But this is what happens.
We're in a four season region. Be thankful that it's
not frigid six seven months a year. Be thankful for that,
and you get five months of semi warmth, or be
(03:53):
thankful that you don't live in a place where it's
seventy five degrees three hundred and sixty five days a year,
like La Say Diego and Miami. You actually get full.
You get to pull off the sweaters. By the way, Dows,
it looks really good in the sweater. And if you
didn't get to wear chance to wear his sweater, his
urgyle sweater life wouldn't be the same. He's all about
the argyle. So that's good.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So but anyways, I just want to throw that out there.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
People are losing their ever loved minds on the local weathers,
just losing their minds. Okay, So now let's get back
to more important matters, things that aren't normal or that
don't happen every day. And that's Michael Watley with a
report that came out in Politico early this morning, early
(04:38):
this morning, and I've been I swear to you, I've
been on the phones NonStop all day today, all day
today and just talking to a lot of people, and
I will tell you that it shouldn't be surprising that
he's running. So back in February, that's when I first
(05:02):
heard that Tom Tillis may not run for reelection. That's
when I heard that. And then I want to say
it was early May that it was, you know, Trump's
coming off the election. Michael Wally helped get Trump the
election because Michael Wally head to the RNC, and Trump
(05:23):
hired him to put him in charge of the R
and C so he could do nationally what he's done
for North Carolina, right, and Wally did it with a
big time game plan that he took from North Carolina
and he put it nationwide, especially in the battleground states.
And you saw what happened. He won every single battleground
state that Rosie O'Donnell Manal was saying, by the way,
is he cheated? So he must have cheated. The only
(05:46):
way that Donald Trump could win every battleground state is
by cheating. It's funny that a Democrats saying that, right, right,
election denier. So anyways, just stay in Ireland eating your hagis.
And if I was on serious XMS, a few more
words would have probably come out of my mouth about
Rosie O'Donnell. But anyways, I'm not on serious XM. So anyways,
(06:13):
But now, but going back to this, so Trump brings
in Michael Whallely.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
He does what he does.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Nationally, and I heard back in May like hey, like
this is becoming like a big thing. We're hearing Watley
is either going to run for Senate or he's it
going to run for governor, and at that time it
was fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then the nc og GP NCGOP.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Convention happens in Greensboro, you guys, when I was up
there and I was the only reporter to get an
interview with Michael Watley, and I got him for like
six minutes, right after he addressed about fifteen hundred people
in a ballroom and I was able to get him
five minutes after he was done with speech, five minutes
in the green room, and I asked him, I said,
(07:05):
I have to ask you. I said, I'm not going
to ask you if you are running, because like that's
a simple answer. That's like it's like asking an athlete
that's a free agent getting ready to be a free agent.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Hey, do you.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Want to stay at Carolina Panther? They always say yes
ninety nine times out of one hundred. Though, of course,
could they have to give that answer because they know
where they currently live. Michael Wally's answer would have been predictable,
So I didn't ask it that way. So I said,
have you ever thought about running in politics? Running for
office in politics? Have you ever thought about that? That
was the question that I asked. He said, well, you know,
(07:37):
doing what I do now is very similar to being
in politics, and yes, you think about it and stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And after that.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Weekend, people were truly convinced that he was going to
run for US Senate. And then a funny thing happened.
Lord Trump's name gets mentioned about a week later, and
that started everything going in different and crazy directions. So
we'll talk about that in the timeline. And then we
(08:09):
also got I got a special interview coming up with
the former Gaston County GPH Robert King, who is really
close with Michael Waltley.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Michael Whtley, by the way, still lives in Gastonia. Welcome
back to Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Seven four seven eleven ten is the telephone number, and
that's also the WBT text line driven by Liberty Buick
gmc okay.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
So Michael Wattley. So now we're done with the NCGOP.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I'm just giving you the timeline of how the first
time I started hearing about Michael Walley possibly running for
Senate until US not doing it, it was because Trump.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Was furious, furious at Tillis.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Even in late January, he was furious with Tillis, because
Tillis was sort of no pun intended hedging his bets
with Pete. Hegseth about whether or not he was going
to vote for Pete. Hegseth right, and it was a
big thing. It was a Secretary of Defense, and Tillis
was irate.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Trump was irate at Tillis for like, it's like, if
you don't vote for him, all hell and fury, I
will know. He basically said, I will support someone to
run against you. So there was this question whether or
not he was going to run talk about Tom Tillis.
So in June, the hot rumor was at the NCGUP
convention in Greensboro, where Michael Walley was like the keynote speaker,
(09:43):
one of the keynote speakers, or I guess he was
the He and the governor from Virginia were the two
big speakers. Oh, in the Department of Education, Linda McMahon.
So the word was that Wally was going to run
for either governor or Senate, but it was almost guaranteed
it was going to one of the two. Almost guaranteed. Well,
(10:04):
then about a week later is when you hear Laura Trump,
Laurid Trump, Lord Trump, Laura Trump, and I had been told,
I want to say, back in May that or early June,
that Tom Tillis was going to make his decision on
whether or not he was going to run for US
Senate in September. I had been told that. I'd never
reported it, but that's what I had been told. And
(10:25):
it turns out that wound up to one hundredercent true
because he point came out and said that to Jake
Tapper that he was going to make.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
His announcement in September.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So everyone was wondering, what's gonna happen, What's going to happen,
What's gonna happen, lrd Trump, Lauria Trump, you know, all
of this stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And then Tom Tillis says I'm not running. And then
immediately Lord Trump.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Is asked if she wants to, and the fact that
she has said no now twice in a span of
two years.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
She said no.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
During the Ted Budd Senate race, and she said no
this time. And both races are were very winnable, very winnable,
especially this one, and she said no to both.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But early on you heard, all right, it's up to Laura.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
If she wants it, and it was always going to
be fifty to fifty at best, whether or not Laura Trump
was gonna take it. So then you go, okay, if
Laura says no, who are the likely candidates? And it
was Pat Harrigan, who's beloved by Donald Trump, and like
another congressman here or there, right, a couple other congressmen,
Richard Tonson's name was floated around. There were a couple
other congressmans that was floating.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Around, and Michael Walley.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, then you start hearing more about the congressman because
Trump point blank said on Air Force one, if Lord
doesn't take the US Senate, who's the most likely candidate?
And Trump said, probably a congressman. So everyone just assumed
at that point it was no longer going to be Whatley.
(12:05):
And then, as I told you last night, that last week,
early last week, I had heard that Whatley was likely
the front runner to take the seat. And I called
and I and I got this info from someone who's
(12:25):
in the know, someone who'd be privy to this information.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And I called and called and called.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So many other people, just trying to get a second
person to confirm, and I couldn't get a second person
to confirm, and so I mentioned it last night, going, hey,
you know, Laura's still out there, but you know, Watley,
he's seriously back in play, like a real, real possibility.
(12:55):
And then we go to bed last night, we wake
up this morning and I get a text message from
someone sending me a link to the Politico article, and
I went, game.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
On, Here we go, Here we go. So there are
a couple of things that we're going to do.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
We're going to discuss the Roy Cooper situation, the chances
and the battle between what will be Michael Watley and
Roy Cooper. And I'm going to dispel quite a few
myths about Roy Cooper, especially from a national perspective. People
make general, sweeping statements and have no clue about what's
(13:38):
going on within the state of North Carolina, no clue
at all. If you beat if you're let's just say
you're a college football team, let's just say you're Clemson. Okay,
how do you know of Clemson's any good Because all
the teams they beat are in the ACC. Because the
(14:01):
ACC is by far the worst football conference in America
in terms of Major Division one. So if Clemson's beating
the full you know beating them, Well, how do you know.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
If Clemson's any good?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
It just means that they're not as crappy as all
the other teams in the ACC, because every team in
the ACC outside of Clemson is god awful, god awful,
including the Tarios, which will be lucky to go eight
and four in a horrific conference.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So my point is.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Roy Cooper was beating ACC type level people to win elections. Well,
the people in North Coline must really love Roy Cooper.
Look who he was running against. And we're gonna break
all that down when we come back. And then later
on I got an interview with Robert King, who is
the former chair of the Guest and GOP and he's
(14:53):
really really tight with Michael Wattley and he worked alongside
Michael Waltley. Because Michael Whtley still lives in Gastonia with
his lovely wife and his kids and everything else. So
we'll talk to Robert King in a little bit and
we'll break down the Michael Wattley versus Roy Cooper situation
when we return. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen
(15:15):
on this Thursday night. Michael Watley, all the reports you
know running for Senate and everything else like that.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
He's going to be on with Brett Winnable tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
We'll find out if you'll make an official tomorrow on
the Brett Winnable Show.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
We'll find out.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Although if you're trying to get a lot of noise
or noise and news, uh, you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Try to do that early in the week. But we'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Maybe he'll drop drop that big hammer tomorrow. We'll see.
We'll see. All Right, So let's talk a minute about
Roy Cooper situation.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
The national media is this.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
North Carolinians really love Roy Cooper. These those statements from
the national media are coming from people who clearly know
nothing about North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Okay, well, Brett.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
He won governor back to back, Yes he did. Brett
he won attorney general, Yes he did. He served for
sixteen years in the of the Attorney General. Think about that,
four elections and two years or two terms as governor.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yess he did.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And prior to that, he served in the North Carolina
House of Representatives for four years and then he served
in the Senate for ten years, North Carolina Senate.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So he's been in Raleigh. He was in Raleigh from.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Ninety one, excuse me, from nineteen eighty seven to twenty
twenty four, so it's twenty four and thirteen.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So now you're looking.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
At thirty seven years Roy Cooper served in Raleigh.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Thank god, he's not a career politician.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right, thirty seven years all right, so now well bred.
That just proves North Carolina loves him. Okay, let's talk
about this for a second. When he ran for Senate
and he served those ten years and senate he is
in one of the most jerrymanderd districts in the entire state.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
There was no way.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
The only way he wasn't going to win the election
is if he dropped head of a coronary on the
way to election day, and he still might have won.
We've seen it in the past where towns have voted
dead people into office. If I'm not mistaken, I think
somebody won mayor in Missouri and he was a dead person.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
But that's Missouri. Go figure. So so he.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Won Senate in the jerry manner district and I'm not
even joking in the state so that was no competition.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Okay, we'll set that aside. No competition a state senate
for ten years.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Well, Brett, you you must be loved if you are
elected as attorney general four straight times.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I'm sorry, when's the last time a.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Republican won the attorney general election in North Carolina? Yeah,
that'd be zero, Bob ever, eighteen sixty five. Going forward,
actually eighteen sixty one. You know Lincoln, first Republican eighteen
sixty one, one of the co founders of the Republican Party.
(18:42):
There's never been a Republican elected as attorney general. Dan
Bishop was trying to become the first. You did have
a Republican like put into office in the late eighteen hundreds,
I think eighteen ninety six, but didn't win an election,
was put into office. So so he's won a race.
He won five elections as a state senator, where it
(19:05):
was the most gerrymandered district maybe in the entire state.
He won four elections as attorney general where there were
there's never been a Republican win that election. Okay, fine,
br But I mean he did win the election and
governor twice.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We talked about this last night.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
In two thousand, he ran against Dan Forrest, which put
together the worst single handed campaign in the history of
North Carolina politics. It was so bad that even the
NCGOP said dude, you are on your own, like, we
can't help. You're not taking our advice. We're trying to
help you, you're not doing it. Can't help you, can't
(19:47):
help you. Political science classes all over North Carolina will
use that as a as a way to.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Not run campaigns.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
They will show that to political science classes all through
North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
This is how you screw up a campaign.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Now, But Brady beat Pat McCrory in twenty sixteen, Yes
he did. And Pat McCory had some campaign flaws, massive
campaign flaws. Try to keep everything positive. He didn't want
to necessarily go negative. Okay, the problem is it was
(20:23):
easy for Cooper to go negative. He could bring up
the bathroom bill. He could bring up the I seventy
seven toll lanes, which he did. You know, there were
a lot of things that Cooper could bring up. But
with all that being said, you know what lost Patt
McCory that election, one single thing, the toll lanes. He
(20:47):
was ten thousand votes less. It wasn't the bathroom bill.
The bathroom bill had nothing to do with any of this.
Pat McCory got ten thousand less votes in twenty sixteen
from that I seventy seven corridor were the toll lanes Huntersville.
Cornelius Davidson up in the Moorsville area ten thousand less
(21:09):
votes there than he did in twenty twelve, all because
of the toll lanes, and the Republicans were so pissed
off about the toll lanes and the unaffilated is that
they didn't vote for him. Now, granted, Roy Cooper ran
on some stuff like well, I'll hope get rid of
the toll lane like, yeah, of course that never happened,
and that was never going to happen because the State
of North Carolina wasn't going to pay a six hundred
(21:31):
and fifty million dollars payout to that company in Spain
by breaking the contract.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
But again, so Roy.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Cooper has had hasn't had a single, not a single
candidate to go after him and actually really really push him.
The closest was Pat McCrory, and he didn't go after
He didn't go after Roy Cooper that much.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Right now, With that being said.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Pete Callander put out a tweet earlier today and he's
one hundred percent correct, and I retweeted it saying you
couldn't be more correct.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And here's what Pete said.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
The kinds of political ads against Cooper we'll see in
North Carolina will be unlike anything Cooper has ever experienced.
And he's a million percent correct. The things they are
going to say about Roy Cooper, the things they're going
to do to Roy Cooper, which he has never experienced.
(22:37):
His wife may curl up in the fetal position. Things
are going to get so bad they are going to
hit home so hard. Roy Cooper is against helping your
child go to private schools. But guess what, he sent
his child to private school. Apparently your child's not good
enough to go to child to go to private schools,
but his daughter went to private school. As a matter
(22:59):
of fact, I worry Cooper about that very thing. When
he came to Charlotte, they were not happy with that question.
You vetoed trying to give vouchers for the less fortunate
to get their parents to get their kids to private schools,
and you vetoed that, But didn't your daughter go to
private school? Well, she needed it, she had special things. Oh,
so it doesn't matter if like someone else can't afford it,
(23:22):
if they need special attention. Only the rich should be
able to send their kids to private school.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
You don't think that's going to be come out in play,
like they will totally say that about his daughter. Hey,
his daughter went to private school, but your daughter wasn't
good enough to go to private school or son? You
got to make a certain amount of money. Oh okay, COVID,
Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Helene. How about all those people that
(23:52):
you pardoned and like get out of jail just before
you left office, Like even Josh Stein has taken some
shots at you a little bit about the way you
head on, Helene. Roy Cooper has no idea about the
whole the the holy hell that's about to be unleashed
upon him by the North Carolina or the North Kunta GP.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
The RNC is all the uh, all the pack.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Money, and I will tell you they're already getting ready
to call it the most probably the most expensive Senate
race in American history. You might seriously need seven hundred
million dollars per candidate.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
There's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So much out there because the Democrats are absolutely desperate
to do anything they can to keep to wrangle away
the Senate seat by seat They're doing They're gonna do
everything they can. They think they got a chance in
North Carolina and Maine and a couple other places.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So when we come back, we're gonna talk to Rober King.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Robert King is the former chair of the Gaston GP
and he works side by side with Michael Wally and
actually is very close to Michael Whally.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So we'll talk to him when we return.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Thursday night.
Seven four five, seven eleven ten is the telephone number,
and that is also the WBT text line driven by
Liberty Buwick Genc. And by the way, Isaac does tell
me when you guys text, so always appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
So Michael Wally running for According to all reports and
all indications, Lord Trump backed out officially that he's going
to run for US Senate against presumably Roy Cooper. Supposedly,
both are expected to make their announcement next week, unless
(26:06):
Michael Wally decides to make an official on Brett Oninnibles
Show tomorrow, So we'll see. But Michael Wally still lives
in Gastonia. He's lived in Gastonia, i want to say,
since nineteen ninety eight, and he used to be the
vice chair of the Gaston County GOP from ninety nine
(26:26):
to two thousand and one. He also was an attorney
for George Bush's George Bush Juniors legal team with all
the hanging chads in Florida against Al Gore. He also
served as chief of staff for US Senator Elizabeth Dole
out of North Carolina. He served on the Trump team
(26:50):
or helped the Trump team in twenty sixteen when he
got elected. Then he became head of the NCGP in
twenty nineteen, and then this past February or a yeah, yeah,
we're in twenty twenty five forgot so I guess eighteen seventeen,
sixteen months ago he became head of the RNC, the
Republican National Committee. Through all of that, he's maintained his
(27:16):
life and livelihood in Gastonia, where his wife is from.
Michael Watley's from Wataga County.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
That'd be booed.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
He went to UNC Charlotte, got his law degree from
Notre Dame. So now you know his resume. But because
of his still extremely close ties and still living in
Gaston County in Gastonia, they people over there obviously know him.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
And so I want to talk to Robert.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
King, who is the former chair of the Gaston County
GP and as matter of fact, he gave up office earlier,
I believe back in March. He served his term and
he gave it up earlier in March to Stephen Deton
and so, but I wanted to talk to him about
this whole thing going on with Michael Wata because no
one knows him quite like Robert King. And joining me
(28:08):
now is former Gaston County GOP chairman Robert King. So,
first of all, Robert, thanks for joining me tonight. And
second of all, when I say the name Michael Wattley,
what comes to mind?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Uh, Michael Watley to me? Uh, For me personally, UH,
it means mentor. Michael was someone who when I began
my involvement in the Republican Party, he was someone who
was there for me and for others to help us
get acclimated. Michael has always been someone who's been supportive
(28:45):
of people being involved and working hard for the Republican Party.
And he's never uh, he's never been somebody who shies
away from uh, answering questions, helping somebody. He's always you well,
you know before he is are in Sea chairman. It
was always a little easier to get him on the phone.
But he's always been somebody who's been right there, involved
(29:07):
and ready to help.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Michael moved to Gastonia in the late nineties and even
served as the vice chair there with a Gaston gup
and through it all all this time later, no matter
where what jobs he's taken, he still maintains his residence
and uh in love for Gaston County.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Absolutely yeah. I mean he he is, first of all
a neighbor and a friend, and he's he's very self effacing.
I mean, he's he's very much you know, wow, this
is amazing, and he's and he's honored and humbled by
the positions that he's earned. He's worked very hard for it.
He is. It's so surprising me if President Trump picked
(29:47):
him as our NC chairman and and now he's got
the President's support for a Senate run and surprising it all,
he's extremely personal. He has all always first and foremost,
and someone who's right there as a neighbor and a
friend and and an involved individual in the community and
in every way.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Speaking with Robert King, the former chair of the Gaston
County GOP, So, Robert, when you were the head of
the Gaston County GOP.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
He was the head of the NCGOP. Can you just.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Talk about what he was like to work with and
some of the things that he was able to get accomplished.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Right, that's correct. And you know, Michael and I live
fairly close to one another, so we did have a
lot of conversations. But I think and and and I
don't I'm pretty much I'm sure that the the one
big thing you can point to with Michael Wattley is
election integrity. As chairman of the n cp UH, he
(30:49):
came up with a plan that was it was all
about making sure that elections were fair and that it
was easy to vote and very difficult to cheat. And
that's one of the things that attracted the President Transleet.
You know, UH, the President has said many times, I
(31:10):
went to sleep in North Carolina, I had a small lead,
and when I woke up the next morning, I still
had a small lead. And that's a lot to do
with the strategy that Chairman Watley at that time put
into place. Now we you know, there's a lot of
us who were boots on the ground, but that strategy
made a huge difference. And uh, and Winds up and
down the ballot, making sure that the election integrity was there.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Is there anything that I didn't ask you about Michael
Walley that maybe people should know or just him as
a person.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well, uh, you know, he's a real guy. He's a
family man. He's got he's got a wonderful wife and kids,
and they have a great deal of respect for him.
And he has never been someone who has been pretentious
in my in my dealings with Michael, he's always been
(32:03):
somebody who is a real person. He's he's never been
too big to get on the phone. He's never taken
his positions as some kind of you know, look at me,
I've achieved this. It's always been he's always been very
humble about it, and he's just always worked really hard.
And I think that's why he's learned where he is now.
(32:27):
You know, when when people said the name Michael Whatley,
most Republicans in North Carolina know him. Other people may
not know him as well. Well, I will say, in
my experience and having known him for many years, this
is a really genuine person who really cares about what
he's doing. He cares about the people in North Carolina,
and that has shown no matter what position and he's
(32:49):
been in and no matter what level he's achieved.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Robert King, former guest and GP chairman, I really appreciate
you joining us tonight.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Rat takes care good to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
All right, So that's going to do it for us again.
A lot going on over the last forty eight hours.
Don't worry. I'll get into all the mayoral stuff going on,
and you know Pineville and mint Hill and Huntersville and
all the other ills out there, So we'll get into
that sometime next week. And again, make sure you listen
to Brett Roaldo Lamart to make sure see see if
Michael Waally is gonna be making big time national news
(33:20):
on the Burt Winnable Show by formally announcing his candidacy.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
All right, everyone that's going to do it for us tonight,
have a great night. My name is Brett Jenson, and
you've been listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson.
Hi oh, let's go hi oh, let's go. Oh, Let's
go oh, let's come. News Talk eleven ten and Monday
nine three WBT Brett Jensen here with you on this
Thursday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen. As we
go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven oh four, five,
(00:44):
seven oh eleven ten. Guys, make sure you follow me
on x at Brett Underscore Jensen for all the latest
and breaking news in and around the Shad area. And
I swear to you it's like, uh and we're believe me.
We know what the main story of the day is.
And I'm sure they been discussing it since about seven
am this morning on WBT, and it's all about Michael Whally.
(01:06):
I I don't know how they have it, but you
would assume that's what the people have been discussing, just
like everyone was discussing Roy Cooper yesterday and the stuff
that came out this morning at What Political came out
with a story about Michael Whally.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And by the way, last night on this very.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Show, I told you at the end of the show
last night when we were discussing the Republicans that Michael
Whalley was very much in it, and depending on who
you talk to, they will tell you he was the
front runner. So, like I said, I heard last week
that he was very very much so into the potential
(01:44):
and possibility of becoming or getting the nod from Donald
Trump and running for US Senate.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And I told you guys that last night.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And lo and Beholds seven hours or twelve hours later,
bought a boom Bay dea Bang Political comes out with
a port that Michael Whalley's announcing next week.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Now it should be noted, it should be noted.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Michael Watley is going to be on Brett Winnable tomorrow
should be noted. And will he make the announcement tomorrow
on Winnable show?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Maybe maybe he makes national news on the Brett Winnable
Show tomorrow, or maybe he waits until next week. According
to Politico when he was going to announce it sometime
next week.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So we'll see. We'll see. But when I say it
feels like armageddon.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
The uh, the weather people, they are going crazy right
now because it's supposed to be like in triple digits
like every day next week. And I'm looking at it
and it says the heat in decks. Saturday is one
hundred and ten, then one hundred and nine, Sunday one
hundred and nine, Monday one hundred and nine, Tuesday one
hundred and nine Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
People are losing.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Their ever loving minds right now, going, oh my god,
I know, and trust me, we're going to get back
to Watley in a second.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
But here's the thing. We live in the South.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We literally go through this every single year, usually late June, July, August. Like,
this is what we do, this is it, And I
got news for you.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know what usually happens in January and February we
get ice or snow.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
How about that shocker, Like we don't get the blizzards.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Sometimes they'll get a little bit more, you know, a
few inches here or there. But this is what happens.
We're in a four season region. Be thankful that it's
not frigid six seven months a year. Be thankful for that,
and you get five months of semi warmth, or be
(03:53):
thankful that you don't live in a place where it's
seventy five degrees three hundred and sixty five days a year,
like La Say Diego and Miami. You actually get full.
You get to pull off the sweaters. By the way, Dows,
it looks really good in the sweater. And if you
didn't get to wear chance to wear his sweater, his
urgyle sweater life wouldn't be the same. He's all about
the argyle. So that's good.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So but anyways, I just want to throw that out there.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
People are losing their ever loved minds on the local weathers,
just losing their minds. Okay, So now let's get back
to more important matters, things that aren't normal or that
don't happen every day. And that's Michael Watley with a
report that came out in Politico early this morning, early
(04:38):
this morning, and I've been I swear to you, I've
been on the phones NonStop all day today, all day
today and just talking to a lot of people, and
I will tell you that it shouldn't be surprising that
he's running. So back in February, that's when I first
(05:02):
heard that Tom Tillis may not run for reelection. That's
when I heard that. And then I want to say
it was early May that it was, you know, Trump's
coming off the election. Michael Wally helped get Trump the
election because Michael Wally head to the RNC, and Trump
(05:23):
hired him to put him in charge of the R
and C so he could do nationally what he's done
for North Carolina, right, and Wally did it with a
big time game plan that he took from North Carolina
and he put it nationwide, especially in the battleground states.
And you saw what happened. He won every single battleground
state that Rosie O'Donnell Manal was saying, by the way,
is he cheated? So he must have cheated. The only
(05:46):
way that Donald Trump could win every battleground state is
by cheating. It's funny that a Democrats saying that, right, right,
election denier. So anyways, just stay in Ireland eating your hagis.
And if I was on serious XMS, a few more
words would have probably come out of my mouth about
Rosie O'Donnell. But anyways, I'm not on serious XM. So anyways,
(06:13):
But now, but going back to this, so Trump brings
in Michael Whallely.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
He does what he does.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Nationally, and I heard back in May like hey, like
this is becoming like a big thing. We're hearing Watley
is either going to run for Senate or he's it
going to run for governor, and at that time it
was fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then the nc og GP NCGOP.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Convention happens in Greensboro, you guys, when I was up
there and I was the only reporter to get an
interview with Michael Watley, and I got him for like
six minutes, right after he addressed about fifteen hundred people
in a ballroom and I was able to get him
five minutes after he was done with speech, five minutes
in the green room, and I asked him, I said,
(07:05):
I have to ask you. I said, I'm not going
to ask you if you are running, because like that's
a simple answer. That's like it's like asking an athlete
that's a free agent getting ready to be a free agent.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Hey, do you.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Want to stay at Carolina Panther? They always say yes
ninety nine times out of one hundred. Though, of course,
could they have to give that answer because they know
where they currently live. Michael Wally's answer would have been predictable,
So I didn't ask it that way. So I said,
have you ever thought about running in politics? Running for
office in politics? Have you ever thought about that? That
was the question that I asked. He said, well, you know,
(07:37):
doing what I do now is very similar to being
in politics, and yes, you think about it and stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And after that.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Weekend, people were truly convinced that he was going to
run for US Senate. And then a funny thing happened.
Lord Trump's name gets mentioned about a week later, and
that started everything going in different and crazy directions. So
we'll talk about that in the timeline. And then we
(08:09):
also got I got a special interview coming up with
the former Gaston County GPH Robert King, who is really
close with Michael Waltley.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Michael Whtley, by the way, still lives in Gastonia. Welcome
back to Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Seven four seven eleven ten is the telephone number, and
that's also the WBT text line driven by Liberty Buick
gmc okay.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
So Michael Wattley. So now we're done with the NCGOP.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I'm just giving you the timeline of how the first
time I started hearing about Michael Walley possibly running for
Senate until US not doing it, it was because Trump.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Was furious, furious at Tillis.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Even in late January, he was furious with Tillis, because
Tillis was sort of no pun intended hedging his bets
with Pete. Hegseth about whether or not he was going
to vote for Pete. Hegseth right, and it was a
big thing. It was a Secretary of Defense, and Tillis
was irate.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Trump was irate at Tillis for like, it's like, if
you don't vote for him, all hell and fury, I
will know. He basically said, I will support someone to
run against you. So there was this question whether or
not he was going to run talk about Tom Tillis.
So in June, the hot rumor was at the NCGUP
convention in Greensboro, where Michael Walley was like the keynote speaker,
(09:43):
one of the keynote speakers, or I guess he was
the He and the governor from Virginia were the two
big speakers. Oh, in the Department of Education, Linda McMahon.
So the word was that Wally was going to run
for either governor or Senate, but it was almost guaranteed
it was going to one of the two. Almost guaranteed. Well,
(10:04):
then about a week later is when you hear Laura Trump,
Laurid Trump, Lord Trump, Laura Trump, and I had been told,
I want to say, back in May that or early June,
that Tom Tillis was going to make his decision on
whether or not he was going to run for US
Senate in September. I had been told that. I'd never
reported it, but that's what I had been told. And
(10:25):
it turns out that wound up to one hundredercent true
because he point came out and said that to Jake
Tapper that he was going to make.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
His announcement in September.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So everyone was wondering, what's gonna happen, What's going to happen,
What's gonna happen, lrd Trump, Lauria Trump, you know, all
of this stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And then Tom Tillis says I'm not running. And then
immediately Lord Trump.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Is asked if she wants to, and the fact that
she has said no now twice in a span of
two years.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
She said no.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
During the Ted Budd Senate race, and she said no
this time. And both races are were very winnable, very winnable,
especially this one, and she said no to both.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But early on you heard, all right, it's up to Laura.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
If she wants it, and it was always going to
be fifty to fifty at best, whether or not Laura Trump
was gonna take it. So then you go, okay, if
Laura says no, who are the likely candidates? And it
was Pat Harrigan, who's beloved by Donald Trump, and like
another congressman here or there, right, a couple other congressmen,
Richard Tonson's name was floated around. There were a couple
other congressmans that was floating.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Around, and Michael Walley.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, then you start hearing more about the congressman because
Trump point blank said on Air Force one, if Lord
doesn't take the US Senate, who's the most likely candidate?
And Trump said, probably a congressman. So everyone just assumed
at that point it was no longer going to be Whatley.
(12:05):
And then, as I told you last night, that last week,
early last week, I had heard that Whatley was likely
the front runner to take the seat. And I called
and I and I got this info from someone who's
(12:25):
in the know, someone who'd be privy to this information.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And I called and called and called.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So many other people, just trying to get a second
person to confirm, and I couldn't get a second person
to confirm, and so I mentioned it last night, going, hey,
you know, Laura's still out there, but you know, Watley,
he's seriously back in play, like a real, real possibility.
(12:55):
And then we go to bed last night, we wake
up this morning and I get a text message from
someone sending me a link to the Politico article, and
I went, game.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
On, Here we go, Here we go. So there are
a couple of things that we're going to do.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
We're going to discuss the Roy Cooper situation, the chances
and the battle between what will be Michael Watley and
Roy Cooper. And I'm going to dispel quite a few
myths about Roy Cooper, especially from a national perspective. People
make general, sweeping statements and have no clue about what's
(13:38):
going on within the state of North Carolina, no clue
at all. If you beat if you're let's just say
you're a college football team, let's just say you're Clemson. Okay,
how do you know of Clemson's any good Because all
the teams they beat are in the ACC. Because the
(14:01):
ACC is by far the worst football conference in America
in terms of Major Division one. So if Clemson's beating
the full you know beating them, Well, how do you know.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
If Clemson's any good?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
It just means that they're not as crappy as all
the other teams in the ACC, because every team in
the ACC outside of Clemson is god awful, god awful,
including the Tarios, which will be lucky to go eight
and four in a horrific conference.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So my point is.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Roy Cooper was beating ACC type level people to win elections. Well,
the people in North Coline must really love Roy Cooper.
Look who he was running against. And we're gonna break
all that down when we come back. And then later
on I got an interview with Robert King, who is
the former chair of the Guest and GOP and he's
(14:53):
really really tight with Michael Wattley and he worked alongside
Michael Waltley. Because Michael Whtley still lives in Gastonia with
his lovely wife and his kids and everything else. So
we'll talk to Robert King in a little bit and
we'll break down the Michael Wattley versus Roy Cooper situation
when we return. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen
(15:15):
on this Thursday night. Michael Watley, all the reports you
know running for Senate and everything else like that.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
He's going to be on with Brett Winnable tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
We'll find out if you'll make an official tomorrow on
the Brett Winnable Show.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
We'll find out.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Although if you're trying to get a lot of noise
or noise and news, uh, you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Try to do that early in the week. But we'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Maybe he'll drop drop that big hammer tomorrow. We'll see.
We'll see. All Right, So let's talk a minute about
Roy Cooper situation.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
The national media is this.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
North Carolinians really love Roy Cooper. These those statements from
the national media are coming from people who clearly know
nothing about North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Okay, well, Brett.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
He won governor back to back, Yes he did. Brett
he won attorney general, Yes he did. He served for
sixteen years in the of the Attorney General. Think about that,
four elections and two years or two terms as governor.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yess he did.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And prior to that, he served in the North Carolina
House of Representatives for four years and then he served
in the Senate for ten years, North Carolina Senate.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So he's been in Raleigh. He was in Raleigh from.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Ninety one, excuse me, from nineteen eighty seven to twenty
twenty four, so it's twenty four and thirteen.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So now you're looking.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
At thirty seven years Roy Cooper served in Raleigh.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Thank god, he's not a career politician.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right, thirty seven years all right, so now well bred.
That just proves North Carolina loves him. Okay, let's talk
about this for a second. When he ran for Senate
and he served those ten years and senate he is
in one of the most jerrymanderd districts in the entire state.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
There was no way.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
The only way he wasn't going to win the election
is if he dropped head of a coronary on the
way to election day, and he still might have won.
We've seen it in the past where towns have voted
dead people into office. If I'm not mistaken, I think
somebody won mayor in Missouri and he was a dead person.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
But that's Missouri. Go figure. So so he.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Won Senate in the jerry manner district and I'm not
even joking in the state so that was no competition.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Okay, we'll set that aside. No competition a state senate
for ten years.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Well, Brett, you you must be loved if you are
elected as attorney general four straight times.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I'm sorry, when's the last time a.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Republican won the attorney general election in North Carolina? Yeah,
that'd be zero, Bob ever, eighteen sixty five. Going forward,
actually eighteen sixty one. You know Lincoln, first Republican eighteen
sixty one, one of the co founders of the Republican Party.
(18:42):
There's never been a Republican elected as attorney general. Dan
Bishop was trying to become the first. You did have
a Republican like put into office in the late eighteen hundreds,
I think eighteen ninety six, but didn't win an election,
was put into office. So so he's won a race.
He won five elections as a state senator, where it
(19:05):
was the most gerrymandered district maybe in the entire state.
He won four elections as attorney general where there were
there's never been a Republican win that election. Okay, fine,
br But I mean he did win the election and
governor twice.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We talked about this last night.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
In two thousand, he ran against Dan Forrest, which put
together the worst single handed campaign in the history of
North Carolina politics. It was so bad that even the
NCGOP said dude, you are on your own, like, we
can't help. You're not taking our advice. We're trying to
help you, you're not doing it. Can't help you, can't
(19:47):
help you. Political science classes all over North Carolina will
use that as a as a way to.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Not run campaigns.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
They will show that to political science classes all through
North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
This is how you screw up a campaign.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Now, But Brady beat Pat McCrory in twenty sixteen, Yes
he did. And Pat McCory had some campaign flaws, massive
campaign flaws. Try to keep everything positive. He didn't want
to necessarily go negative. Okay, the problem is it was
(20:23):
easy for Cooper to go negative. He could bring up
the bathroom bill. He could bring up the I seventy
seven toll lanes, which he did. You know, there were
a lot of things that Cooper could bring up. But
with all that being said, you know what lost Patt
McCory that election, one single thing, the toll lanes. He
(20:47):
was ten thousand votes less. It wasn't the bathroom bill.
The bathroom bill had nothing to do with any of this.
Pat McCory got ten thousand less votes in twenty sixteen
from that I seventy seven corridor were the toll lanes Huntersville.
Cornelius Davidson up in the Moorsville area ten thousand less
(21:09):
votes there than he did in twenty twelve, all because
of the toll lanes, and the Republicans were so pissed
off about the toll lanes and the unaffilated is that
they didn't vote for him. Now, granted, Roy Cooper ran
on some stuff like well, I'll hope get rid of
the toll lane like, yeah, of course that never happened,
and that was never going to happen because the State
of North Carolina wasn't going to pay a six hundred
(21:31):
and fifty million dollars payout to that company in Spain
by breaking the contract.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
But again, so Roy.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Cooper has had hasn't had a single, not a single
candidate to go after him and actually really really push him.
The closest was Pat McCrory, and he didn't go after
He didn't go after Roy Cooper that much.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Right now, With that being said.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Pete Callander put out a tweet earlier today and he's
one hundred percent correct, and I retweeted it saying you
couldn't be more correct.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And here's what Pete said.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
The kinds of political ads against Cooper we'll see in
North Carolina will be unlike anything Cooper has ever experienced.
And he's a million percent correct. The things they are
going to say about Roy Cooper, the things they're going
to do to Roy Cooper, which he has never experienced.
(22:37):
His wife may curl up in the fetal position. Things
are going to get so bad they are going to
hit home so hard. Roy Cooper is against helping your
child go to private schools. But guess what, he sent
his child to private school. Apparently your child's not good
enough to go to child to go to private schools,
but his daughter went to private school. As a matter
(22:59):
of fact, I worry Cooper about that very thing. When
he came to Charlotte, they were not happy with that question.
You vetoed trying to give vouchers for the less fortunate
to get their parents to get their kids to private schools,
and you vetoed that, But didn't your daughter go to
private school? Well, she needed it, she had special things. Oh,
so it doesn't matter if like someone else can't afford it,
(23:22):
if they need special attention. Only the rich should be
able to send their kids to private school.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
You don't think that's going to be come out in play,
like they will totally say that about his daughter. Hey,
his daughter went to private school, but your daughter wasn't
good enough to go to private school or son? You
got to make a certain amount of money. Oh okay, COVID,
Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Helene. How about all those people that
(23:52):
you pardoned and like get out of jail just before
you left office, Like even Josh Stein has taken some
shots at you a little bit about the way you
head on, Helene. Roy Cooper has no idea about the
whole the the holy hell that's about to be unleashed
upon him by the North Carolina or the North Kunta GP.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
The RNC is all the uh, all the pack.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Money, and I will tell you they're already getting ready
to call it the most probably the most expensive Senate
race in American history. You might seriously need seven hundred
million dollars per candidate.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
There's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So much out there because the Democrats are absolutely desperate
to do anything they can to keep to wrangle away
the Senate seat by seat They're doing They're gonna do
everything they can. They think they got a chance in
North Carolina and Maine and a couple other places.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So when we come back, we're gonna talk to Rober King.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Robert King is the former chair of the Gaston GP
and he works side by side with Michael Wally and
actually is very close to Michael Whally.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So we'll talk to him when we return.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Thursday night.
Seven four five, seven eleven ten is the telephone number,
and that is also the WBT text line driven by
Liberty Buwick Genc. And by the way, Isaac does tell
me when you guys text, so always appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
So Michael Wally running for According to all reports and
all indications, Lord Trump backed out officially that he's going
to run for US Senate against presumably Roy Cooper. Supposedly,
both are expected to make their announcement next week, unless
(26:06):
Michael Wally decides to make an official on Brett Oninnibles
Show tomorrow, So we'll see. But Michael Wally still lives
in Gastonia. He's lived in Gastonia, i want to say,
since nineteen ninety eight, and he used to be the
vice chair of the Gaston County GOP from ninety nine
(26:26):
to two thousand and one. He also was an attorney
for George Bush's George Bush Juniors legal team with all
the hanging chads in Florida against Al Gore. He also
served as chief of staff for US Senator Elizabeth Dole
out of North Carolina. He served on the Trump team
(26:50):
or helped the Trump team in twenty sixteen when he
got elected. Then he became head of the NCGP in
twenty nineteen, and then this past February or a yeah, yeah,
we're in twenty twenty five forgot so I guess eighteen seventeen,
sixteen months ago he became head of the RNC, the
Republican National Committee. Through all of that, he's maintained his
(27:16):
life and livelihood in Gastonia, where his wife is from.
Michael Watley's from Wataga County.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
That'd be booed.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
He went to UNC Charlotte, got his law degree from
Notre Dame. So now you know his resume. But because
of his still extremely close ties and still living in
Gaston County in Gastonia, they people over there obviously know him.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
And so I want to talk to Robert.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
King, who is the former chair of the Gaston County
GP and as matter of fact, he gave up office earlier,
I believe back in March. He served his term and
he gave it up earlier in March to Stephen Deton
and so, but I wanted to talk to him about
this whole thing going on with Michael Wata because no
one knows him quite like Robert King. And joining me
(28:08):
now is former Gaston County GOP chairman Robert King. So,
first of all, Robert, thanks for joining me tonight. And
second of all, when I say the name Michael Wattley,
what comes to mind?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Uh, Michael Watley to me? Uh, For me personally, UH,
it means mentor. Michael was someone who when I began
my involvement in the Republican Party, he was someone who
was there for me and for others to help us
get acclimated. Michael has always been someone who's been supportive
(28:45):
of people being involved and working hard for the Republican Party.
And he's never uh, he's never been somebody who shies
away from uh, answering questions, helping somebody. He's always you well,
you know before he is are in Sea chairman. It
was always a little easier to get him on the phone.
But he's always been somebody who's been right there, involved
(29:07):
and ready to help.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Michael moved to Gastonia in the late nineties and even
served as the vice chair there with a Gaston gup
and through it all all this time later, no matter
where what jobs he's taken, he still maintains his residence
and uh in love for Gaston County.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Absolutely yeah. I mean he he is, first of all
a neighbor and a friend, and he's he's very self effacing.
I mean, he's he's very much you know, wow, this
is amazing, and he's and he's honored and humbled by
the positions that he's earned. He's worked very hard for it.
He is. It's so surprising me if President Trump picked
(29:47):
him as our NC chairman and and now he's got
the President's support for a Senate run and surprising it all,
he's extremely personal. He has all always first and foremost,
and someone who's right there as a neighbor and a
friend and and an involved individual in the community and
in every way.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Speaking with Robert King, the former chair of the Gaston
County GOP, So, Robert, when you were the head of
the Gaston County GOP.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
He was the head of the NCGOP. Can you just.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Talk about what he was like to work with and
some of the things that he was able to get accomplished.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Right, that's correct. And you know, Michael and I live
fairly close to one another, so we did have a
lot of conversations. But I think and and and I
don't I'm pretty much I'm sure that the the one
big thing you can point to with Michael Wattley is
election integrity. As chairman of the n cp UH, he
(30:49):
came up with a plan that was it was all
about making sure that elections were fair and that it
was easy to vote and very difficult to cheat. And
that's one of the things that attracted the President Transleet.
You know, UH, the President has said many times, I
(31:10):
went to sleep in North Carolina, I had a small lead,
and when I woke up the next morning, I still
had a small lead. And that's a lot to do
with the strategy that Chairman Watley at that time put
into place. Now we you know, there's a lot of
us who were boots on the ground, but that strategy
made a huge difference. And uh, and Winds up and
down the ballot, making sure that the election integrity was there.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Is there anything that I didn't ask you about Michael
Walley that maybe people should know or just him as
a person.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well, uh, you know, he's a real guy. He's a
family man. He's got he's got a wonderful wife and kids,
and they have a great deal of respect for him.
And he has never been someone who has been pretentious
in my in my dealings with Michael, he's always been
(32:03):
somebody who is a real person. He's he's never been
too big to get on the phone. He's never taken
his positions as some kind of you know, look at me,
I've achieved this. It's always been he's always been very
humble about it, and he's just always worked really hard.
And I think that's why he's learned where he is now.
(32:27):
You know, when when people said the name Michael Whatley,
most Republicans in North Carolina know him. Other people may
not know him as well. Well, I will say, in
my experience and having known him for many years, this
is a really genuine person who really cares about what
he's doing. He cares about the people in North Carolina,
and that has shown no matter what position and he's
(32:49):
been in and no matter what level he's achieved.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Robert King, former guest and GP chairman, I really appreciate
you joining us tonight.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Rat takes care good to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
All right, So that's going to do it for us again.
A lot going on over the last forty eight hours.
Don't worry. I'll get into all the mayoral stuff going on,
and you know Pineville and mint Hill and Huntersville and
all the other ills out there, So we'll get into
that sometime next week. And again, make sure you listen
to Brett Roaldo Lamart to make sure see see if
Michael Waally is gonna be making big time national news
(33:20):
on the Burt Winnable Show by formally announcing his candidacy.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
All right, everyone that's going to do it for us tonight,
have a great night. My name is Brett Jenson, and
you've been listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson.
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