December 18, 2025 • 13 mins
Tune in here to this Thursday's edition of the Brett Winterble Show!
We’re joined by Michael Whatley from North Carolina to talk about the U.S. Senate race and the state of the economy and public safety. Brett welcomes the Senate candidate back to the program for a wide-ranging conversation focused on affordability, inflation, and economic relief. Whatley outlines how recent policy changes, including tax cuts, job growth, and lower inflation, are intended to bring relief to families, while acknowledging ongoing challenges like housing costs and high interest rates. The discussion also covers President Trump’s upcoming visit to North Carolina, his endorsement of Whatley, and why the state remains critical in national elections.
The interview turns somber as Whatley reflects on the tragic death of Greg Biffle, highlighting his selfless Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Finally, the conversation addresses rising crime, immigration enforcement, and Whatley’s personal background, as he makes the case for his candidacy and vision for North Carolina’s future.
Listen here for all of this and more on The Brett Winterble Show!
For more from Brett Winterble check out his YouTube channel.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Ed welcome back. It is the Brett Wintererbral Show. Great
to be with you. One O seven point nine FMWBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's a pleasure to welcome back
to the program a person I always like talking to,
and that is, of course, Michael Wattley, who is a
candidate for North Carolina Senate. Coming up. Mister Wattley, It's
good to have you on the program.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Again, Brett. It is always good to be on with you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's there's a whole lot of stories that are that
are out there moving around, and I wanted to ask
you a number of different questions about what we're looking
at with this race. And so one of the things
I wanted to look at from last night and how
this is going to go with in terms of the economy,
how long is it going to take before we see
(00:53):
relief when it comes to affordability, and how will that
you know, factor in with the one Big View bill
and all that sort of stuff. Does how does that
all come to fruition in this regard?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, well, you know, in affordability is a real issue.
I mean that's what President Trump campaigned on and ran
on in this last election cycle. You know, we didn't
necessarily call that affordability. We called it, you know, that
inflation rate. We called it the interest rates. We called
it gasoline prices, grocery prices, and housing prices, all of
which went completely through the roof under Joe Biden's tenure.
(01:29):
And so you know, we have a president who is
in place right now who is fighting on every single
front to make sure that we can stabilize and bring
those prices down. And gasoline prices are the best example
where you know, I paid two dollars and forty nine
cents for gas last night to fill up my truck.
You know that that is something that is a dramatic
(01:52):
improvement because the President has unleashed American energy. But you know,
when it comes to you know, housing prices, when it
comes to a lot of other factors that are out there,
the President is taking steps right now. The biggest movement
that we've seen is he's created seven hundred thousand jobs
in our economy that are are very real. We are
(02:15):
seeing that real wages are absolutely going up and inflation
is down, you know, two point nine percent for the
inflation two point seven percent, which is well below the
projected that we were supposed to have when they announced
it today, you know, so we're seeing a lot of
progress that is being made, and every conversation with the
(02:35):
experts that we're having, whether it's Scott Bessett or or
you know, Kevin Hassett or others in the White House,
is that we are on track to have an economy
in the first quarter, in the second quarter next year
that are really going to be doing substantially better for everybody.
You mentioned the tax cuts, right, So in the One Big,
(02:56):
Beautiful Bill, we extended President Trump's tax cuts, middle middle
class tax cuts, which prevented the largest tax hike in
American history. Right and and remember not a single Democrat
voted for it. My opponent Roy Cooper said he would
have voted against it if he had been in the Senate.
We don't need the largest tax increase in American history.
(03:18):
We also now have uh, no tax on tips, no
tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. So those
are going to have a dramatic impact when people are
filing their taxes next year. So we're we're very excited
about the progress that's been made so far and what
is coming in Q one and Q two of next year.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, I also speaking about coming to North Carolina. The
President is going to be here campaigning with you tomorrow.
Your your thoughts on this in terms of, uh, the
importance that that places in this in this race, can
you can you kind of extrapolate on that.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, Look, I'm thrilled to have the President in North Carolina.
You know, this is a state that he won three
straight times twenty sixteen, twenty twenty, and twenty twenty four,
and I'm proud to have played a very significant role
running all three of those elections. I'm also very proud
of the fact that he's you know, recruited me into
this race and given me his full endorsement and his support.
(04:20):
To have him come down in North Carolina to be
able to support us is absolutely fantastic. And the message
that he is going to be delivering, talking specifically about
the gains in the economy that we have seen, the
jobs that we're creating. You know, when you think about
all of the things that he ran on last year,
(04:40):
it was he was going to rebuild the economy, he's
going to restore the borders, and he's going to make
sure America is respected around the world again. All of
those issue sets really matter here in North Carolina. And
those are issue sets that I'm very proud that I
worked to get him elected as well as a Republican
House and a Republican Senate, and we could see those
(05:00):
those provisions, you know, get taken care of and in
the law. And that's the issue set that's going to
define the twenty twenty sixth election here in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And listen, you know, it's it's it's it's going to
be a very interesting rally getting together and and spending
that time. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you
your reflections on what you would put out earlier today
about the passing of Greg Biffel and the horrible crash
that took place in these last hours.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
You your thoughts on that, well, you think about what
Greg meant, right, you know, I mean, not only was he,
you know, a world class driver and one of the
most important drivers in NASCAR, but the thing that I
will always remember about him was in Hurricane Helene. You
know that we had this all of the damage in
western North Carolina, and FEMA and Roy Cooper were absolutely
(05:56):
not there, but Greg Biffle was, and he flew hundreds
of lights in and out of that region, varying supplies
and making sure that people were getting water, that they
were getting food, they were getting medicine, and never wanted
to die for it, didn't want credit for All he
needed was permission to land the plane. And we had
so many people who stepped up during that storm and
(06:20):
the aftermath, you know, And and Greg was just a
shining example of that. He's a guy who never wanted
credit for anything other than doing good. And and you know,
when you when you talk about an accident that took
not just his life but his wife, two beautiful kids,
I mean just a horrible, horrible tragedy.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
It sure is. And everybody ought to ought to be
lifting up their prayers to the families and and and
to the folks who we lost in that terrible, terrible crash.
Let me take you to the notion of housing.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Housing is something that bedevils a number of people. Obviously,
we have a situation where there's going to be Jerome
Powell probably exiting on. Somebody will be coming in that
Regardles talk a little bit about the housing issue. That's
a challenge, especially for young families coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Well, it really is. You know, and you think about,
you know, what you want to do when you come
out of college is be in a position to have
a job, make enough money, buy a house, get married,
raise a family. Right, Obviously, buying a house is a
huge you know part of that, and far too many
people right now cannot afford a base house. In fact,
you know, it was stunning to me as we were
(07:34):
going through the campaign last year that it costs twice
as much to buy the same house in twenty twenty
four as it did in twenty twenty. That is simply
a staggering statistic, right, And of course, you know, one
of the main reasons is because the interest rates are
so high. You know, inflation goes through the roof interest
rates track. And now the inflation rates are down, and
(07:57):
Jerome Powell refuses to lower the interest rates. And then
the President rightfully so has called him out on any
number of occasions and really went after him because he's
refusing to loader those interest rates. You know, we also
we need more homes to be built, you know, and
red tape and green tape are very real factors. We
(08:18):
have you know, a lot of folks that want to
get in and be able to build that can't get
the permits right. And then of course you think about
you know, the supply costs, you know, and and and
you know all the factors that followed with that inflation.
You know that that nine percent inflation we saw in
twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, thirty four percent inflation
(08:39):
over the course of Joe Biden's administration. So we do
need to get more housing, right, especially in an area
like Charlotte, where we have you know, the population continues
to grow and and you know, we have a place
where people want to move. We have a place you know,
a state down here in a in a metropolitan region,
(09:00):
and that are really great places for people to live.
They want to move here. But you've got to be
able to get housing. You know, starts up and running.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Crime is obviously a huge, a huge issue, and it
is in many different places. You know, we've seen crime
occurring on the light rail, and we've seen people losing
their lives here here in Charlotte, and we've also seen
it at college campuses as well. How do we how
do we get this on the right track, because certainly
(09:30):
there are people who do not want necessarily to see
you know, people incarcerated, et cetera. What's your take on that, Chairman, Wey.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, look it is. It is absolutely terrible. Roy Cooper
when he was the government back in twenty twenty, right
in the middle of the Antifa BLM riots, while all
of our cities were burning down, he was out marching
with BLM and Antifa. People absolutely remember the pictures of
him marching with the rioters, but they don't remember necessarily
(10:04):
that he signed an executive order to reimagine law enforcement
and you know, created castus bail, created pre trial release,
and created a revolving door that has really put these
criminals back on the street despite the fact that they've
been arrested twenty times, thirty times, or forty times. Right,
this is absolutely inexcusable. I'm grateful that the legislature passed
(10:26):
Arena's Law and really tried to rein in some of
these soft on crime, you know, policies that Roy Cooper
put in place. But you know, we need to make
sure that we're going to keep our kids in our
community safe. You know, the number one priority for any government,
whether it's state government, local government, or federal government, has
to be protecting its citizens. Right and as Governor Roy
(10:48):
Cooper got an absolute f He failed on every level
of that. You know, we talk about the latest stabbing
on the light railcar. This was, you know, somebody who
had been arrested, who had been deported. He was caught
coming back over the border and allowed into the country
by Joe Biden. And then you know, we have legislation
(11:10):
to for sheriffs to you know, deport criminal illegal aliens
and and honor the ice detainers. Roy Cooper vetoed those bills.
So you know, it's it's kind of a perfect storm
when you look at all of the confluence that comes
in when it comes to crime, when it comes to
having these violent, criminal illegal aliens in Charlotte. You know,
(11:32):
we really do need to do better, and we're not
going to get better if we give Roy Cooper a promotion. Yeah,
thirty eight years and government is more than enough. And
his soft on crime policies are just not the right
fit for North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So you're you're running for the seat. You you feel
like you're confident in terms of, you know, laying out
all of these sort of approaches. Why are you the
guy and where do people go get more information?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, I appreciate that. You know. Look, I grew up
in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, tiny little town up in
the mountains, five hundred and thirty four people, you know,
And I went to church, and I played sports, and
I worked.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I started working when I was eleven years old with
a paper route fourteen years old. Was my first full
time job. I paid my way through college. I paid
my way through graduate and law school. And that work
ethic really allowed me to build a career. You know,
I met a great lady, you know, from Gallas, North Carolina.
We got married, We've got a great family. You know,
(12:36):
this is what I want to fight for. I want
everybody to have the opportunity that I did to come
out of the middle class, right, get a good education,
create a career, and start a family. And that's what
I'm going to fight for. I'm going to fight for
every family. I'm going to fight for every community. You know,
and we need somebody who's going to fight for economic
policies that will create jobs, raise wages, lower prices. Right,
(12:59):
That's that's what we need to fight on. And I
think we need to keep our kids in our community safe.
Those are the issue sets that the voters in Charlotte
really care about it all across North Carolina, and we're
going to stay with them all day long in every
community and talk to every family.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Where do they get more information.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
At Michael Wattley dot com. They can follow me on
X at Wattley MC, and they can find out more
information and support the campaign at Michael Watley dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Thanks so much for spending time. I look forward to
talking to you again, Thanks much, sir.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yes, absolutely, and Bratt just want to wish you and
all of your listeners of very merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah,
Happy New Year. This holiday season is really truly one
of joy, and I'm excited to spend it with you guys,
and excited to be with you on your new platform too.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, it's great to be here. Merry Christmas, and it's
great to talk to you.
Ed welcome back. It is the Brett Wintererbral Show. Great
to be with you. One O seven point nine FMWBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's a pleasure to welcome back
to the program a person I always like talking to,
and that is, of course, Michael Wattley, who is a
candidate for North Carolina Senate. Coming up. Mister Wattley, It's
good to have you on the program.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Again, Brett. It is always good to be on with you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's there's a whole lot of stories that are that
are out there moving around, and I wanted to ask
you a number of different questions about what we're looking
at with this race. And so one of the things
I wanted to look at from last night and how
this is going to go with in terms of the economy,
how long is it going to take before we see
(00:53):
relief when it comes to affordability, and how will that
you know, factor in with the one Big View bill
and all that sort of stuff. Does how does that
all come to fruition in this regard?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, well, you know, in affordability is a real issue.
I mean that's what President Trump campaigned on and ran
on in this last election cycle. You know, we didn't
necessarily call that affordability. We called it, you know, that
inflation rate. We called it the interest rates. We called
it gasoline prices, grocery prices, and housing prices, all of
which went completely through the roof under Joe Biden's tenure.
(01:29):
And so you know, we have a president who is
in place right now who is fighting on every single
front to make sure that we can stabilize and bring
those prices down. And gasoline prices are the best example
where you know, I paid two dollars and forty nine
cents for gas last night to fill up my truck.
You know that that is something that is a dramatic
(01:52):
improvement because the President has unleashed American energy. But you know,
when it comes to you know, housing prices, when it
comes to a lot of other factors that are out there,
the President is taking steps right now. The biggest movement
that we've seen is he's created seven hundred thousand jobs
in our economy that are are very real. We are
(02:15):
seeing that real wages are absolutely going up and inflation
is down, you know, two point nine percent for the
inflation two point seven percent, which is well below the
projected that we were supposed to have when they announced
it today, you know, so we're seeing a lot of
progress that is being made, and every conversation with the
(02:35):
experts that we're having, whether it's Scott Bessett or or
you know, Kevin Hassett or others in the White House,
is that we are on track to have an economy
in the first quarter, in the second quarter next year
that are really going to be doing substantially better for everybody.
You mentioned the tax cuts, right, So in the One Big,
(02:56):
Beautiful Bill, we extended President Trump's tax cuts, middle middle
class tax cuts, which prevented the largest tax hike in
American history. Right and and remember not a single Democrat
voted for it. My opponent Roy Cooper said he would
have voted against it if he had been in the Senate.
We don't need the largest tax increase in American history.
(03:18):
We also now have uh, no tax on tips, no
tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. So those
are going to have a dramatic impact when people are
filing their taxes next year. So we're we're very excited
about the progress that's been made so far and what
is coming in Q one and Q two of next year.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, I also speaking about coming to North Carolina. The
President is going to be here campaigning with you tomorrow.
Your your thoughts on this in terms of, uh, the
importance that that places in this in this race, can
you can you kind of extrapolate on that.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, Look, I'm thrilled to have the President in North Carolina.
You know, this is a state that he won three
straight times twenty sixteen, twenty twenty, and twenty twenty four,
and I'm proud to have played a very significant role
running all three of those elections. I'm also very proud
of the fact that he's you know, recruited me into
this race and given me his full endorsement and his support.
(04:20):
To have him come down in North Carolina to be
able to support us is absolutely fantastic. And the message
that he is going to be delivering, talking specifically about
the gains in the economy that we have seen, the
jobs that we're creating. You know, when you think about
all of the things that he ran on last year,
(04:40):
it was he was going to rebuild the economy, he's
going to restore the borders, and he's going to make
sure America is respected around the world again. All of
those issue sets really matter here in North Carolina. And
those are issue sets that I'm very proud that I
worked to get him elected as well as a Republican
House and a Republican Senate, and we could see those
(05:00):
those provisions, you know, get taken care of and in
the law. And that's the issue set that's going to
define the twenty twenty sixth election here in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And listen, you know, it's it's it's it's going to
be a very interesting rally getting together and and spending
that time. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you
your reflections on what you would put out earlier today
about the passing of Greg Biffel and the horrible crash
that took place in these last hours.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
You your thoughts on that, well, you think about what
Greg meant, right, you know, I mean, not only was he,
you know, a world class driver and one of the
most important drivers in NASCAR, but the thing that I
will always remember about him was in Hurricane Helene. You
know that we had this all of the damage in
western North Carolina, and FEMA and Roy Cooper were absolutely
(05:56):
not there, but Greg Biffle was, and he flew hundreds
of lights in and out of that region, varying supplies
and making sure that people were getting water, that they
were getting food, they were getting medicine, and never wanted
to die for it, didn't want credit for All he
needed was permission to land the plane. And we had
so many people who stepped up during that storm and
(06:20):
the aftermath, you know, And and Greg was just a
shining example of that. He's a guy who never wanted
credit for anything other than doing good. And and you know,
when you when you talk about an accident that took
not just his life but his wife, two beautiful kids,
I mean just a horrible, horrible tragedy.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
It sure is. And everybody ought to ought to be
lifting up their prayers to the families and and and
to the folks who we lost in that terrible, terrible crash.
Let me take you to the notion of housing.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Housing is something that bedevils a number of people. Obviously,
we have a situation where there's going to be Jerome
Powell probably exiting on. Somebody will be coming in that
Regardles talk a little bit about the housing issue. That's
a challenge, especially for young families coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Well, it really is. You know, and you think about,
you know, what you want to do when you come
out of college is be in a position to have
a job, make enough money, buy a house, get married,
raise a family. Right, Obviously, buying a house is a
huge you know part of that, and far too many
people right now cannot afford a base house. In fact,
you know, it was stunning to me as we were
(07:34):
going through the campaign last year that it costs twice
as much to buy the same house in twenty twenty
four as it did in twenty twenty. That is simply
a staggering statistic, right, And of course, you know, one
of the main reasons is because the interest rates are
so high. You know, inflation goes through the roof interest
rates track. And now the inflation rates are down, and
(07:57):
Jerome Powell refuses to lower the interest rates. And then
the President rightfully so has called him out on any
number of occasions and really went after him because he's
refusing to loader those interest rates. You know, we also
we need more homes to be built, you know, and
red tape and green tape are very real factors. We
(08:18):
have you know, a lot of folks that want to
get in and be able to build that can't get
the permits right. And then of course you think about
you know, the supply costs, you know, and and and
you know all the factors that followed with that inflation.
You know that that nine percent inflation we saw in
twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, thirty four percent inflation
(08:39):
over the course of Joe Biden's administration. So we do
need to get more housing, right, especially in an area
like Charlotte, where we have you know, the population continues
to grow and and you know, we have a place
where people want to move. We have a place you know,
a state down here in a in a metropolitan region,
(09:00):
and that are really great places for people to live.
They want to move here. But you've got to be
able to get housing. You know, starts up and running.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Crime is obviously a huge, a huge issue, and it
is in many different places. You know, we've seen crime
occurring on the light rail, and we've seen people losing
their lives here here in Charlotte, and we've also seen
it at college campuses as well. How do we how
do we get this on the right track, because certainly
(09:30):
there are people who do not want necessarily to see
you know, people incarcerated, et cetera. What's your take on that, Chairman, Wey.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, look it is. It is absolutely terrible. Roy Cooper
when he was the government back in twenty twenty, right
in the middle of the Antifa BLM riots, while all
of our cities were burning down, he was out marching
with BLM and Antifa. People absolutely remember the pictures of
him marching with the rioters, but they don't remember necessarily
(10:04):
that he signed an executive order to reimagine law enforcement
and you know, created castus bail, created pre trial release,
and created a revolving door that has really put these
criminals back on the street despite the fact that they've
been arrested twenty times, thirty times, or forty times. Right,
this is absolutely inexcusable. I'm grateful that the legislature passed
(10:26):
Arena's Law and really tried to rein in some of
these soft on crime, you know, policies that Roy Cooper
put in place. But you know, we need to make
sure that we're going to keep our kids in our
community safe. You know, the number one priority for any government,
whether it's state government, local government, or federal government, has
to be protecting its citizens. Right and as Governor Roy
(10:48):
Cooper got an absolute f He failed on every level
of that. You know, we talk about the latest stabbing
on the light railcar. This was, you know, somebody who
had been arrested, who had been deported. He was caught
coming back over the border and allowed into the country
by Joe Biden. And then you know, we have legislation
(11:10):
to for sheriffs to you know, deport criminal illegal aliens
and and honor the ice detainers. Roy Cooper vetoed those bills.
So you know, it's it's kind of a perfect storm
when you look at all of the confluence that comes
in when it comes to crime, when it comes to
having these violent, criminal illegal aliens in Charlotte. You know,
(11:32):
we really do need to do better, and we're not
going to get better if we give Roy Cooper a promotion. Yeah,
thirty eight years and government is more than enough. And
his soft on crime policies are just not the right
fit for North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So you're you're running for the seat. You you feel
like you're confident in terms of, you know, laying out
all of these sort of approaches. Why are you the
guy and where do people go get more information?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, I appreciate that. You know. Look, I grew up
in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, tiny little town up in
the mountains, five hundred and thirty four people, you know,
And I went to church, and I played sports, and
I worked.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I started working when I was eleven years old with
a paper route fourteen years old. Was my first full
time job. I paid my way through college. I paid
my way through graduate and law school. And that work
ethic really allowed me to build a career. You know,
I met a great lady, you know, from Gallas, North Carolina.
We got married, We've got a great family. You know,
(12:36):
this is what I want to fight for. I want
everybody to have the opportunity that I did to come
out of the middle class, right, get a good education,
create a career, and start a family. And that's what
I'm going to fight for. I'm going to fight for
every family. I'm going to fight for every community. You know,
and we need somebody who's going to fight for economic
policies that will create jobs, raise wages, lower prices. Right,
(12:59):
That's that's what we need to fight on. And I
think we need to keep our kids in our community safe.
Those are the issue sets that the voters in Charlotte
really care about it all across North Carolina, and we're
going to stay with them all day long in every
community and talk to every family.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Where do they get more information.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
At Michael Wattley dot com. They can follow me on
X at Wattley MC, and they can find out more
information and support the campaign at Michael Watley dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Thanks so much for spending time. I look forward to
talking to you again, Thanks much, sir.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yes, absolutely, and Bratt just want to wish you and
all of your listeners of very merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah,
Happy New Year. This holiday season is really truly one
of joy, and I'm excited to spend it with you guys,
and excited to be with you on your new platform too.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, it's great to be here. Merry Christmas, and it's
great to talk to you.
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The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.