As Trump moves hit North Carolina, our state lacks strong defenders | Opinion
President Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce and his blizzard of executive actions have two striking aspects with regard to North Carolina.
First, the state is being especially hard hit by the changes. Second, it is especially unable to protect itself.
Consider the damage:
The sharpest blow may be Trump’s mismanagement of FEMA and his talk of dismantling the agency. Western North Carolina is in crisis after the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. It’s now enduring wildfires fueled by vast swaths of trees toppled by the storm. While Trump dawdles, western North Carolina burns.
Meanwhile, Trump’s move to cap federal research funding and close the United States Agency for International Development is slowing the work of the Research Triangle’s universities and federal contractors, key elements of North Carolina’s tech economy.
Massive layoffs of 10,000 employees and organizational changes at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are costing the state Department of Health and Human Services $100 million. The push to shutter the U.S. Department of Education could cost millions in funding for the state’s low-wealth school districts. The Trump administration has already cut federal grants that North Carolina public schools have been using to recruit and retain teachers.
Cuts in the Department of Veterans Affairs will affect the state’s population of veterans, the ninth largest in the nation. Bans on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) standards and restrictions on student visas will affect the state’s universities.
In the face of these losses and concerns, North Carolina is almost powerless to respond beyond a smattering of citizen protests. The state’s two senators and 10 of its 14 House members are Republicans who either support Trump or fear voicing the slightest opposition to Trump.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly, rather than resisting Trump’s moves, are imitating them. Republican lawmakers are proposing bills to expand the DEI purge at the state level and to create a state version of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency to harass the state’s already underfunded departments.
The lawmakers’ other priorities include making it easier for 18-year-olds to carry concealed guns and bringing back the notorious Bathroom Bill to codify discrimination against transgender people.
As for aid to western North Carolina, Republican lawmakers appear as content as Trump is to delay help and deliver less than needed.
State Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a Democrat, could help the state ward off the worst coming out of Washington, but Republican lawmakers are trying to tie his hands with legislation that would forbid state lawsuits opposing Trump’s executive actions.
That leaves Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat who won handily in November. He could use his statewide mandate to stand in the breach and call out Republicans who are magnifying Trump’s actions rather than shielding North Carolina.
But Stein’s first priority is to help western North Carolina, and for that he needs the legislature’s support. So the governor is focused on making nice with Republicans even as the Republican president alternately batters and ignores North Carolina. According to Axios, a member of Stein’s administration said the governor is conducting a “charm offensive” with Republican lawmakers, a strategy one Republican lobbyist called “f***ing brilliant.”
Democrats might call that depressing. But, at least until Republicans stonewall and roll over him in the next several months, Stein is sticking with his “let us reason together” approach.
His strategy makes sense on one level. Berating Republicans and poking the president isn’t going to help western North Carolina or persuade state Republicans that Trump’s actions are hurting the state’s economy and its people. But it’s obvious that accommodating them won’t gain much either.
In just two months, Trump and Musk have tanked the stock market, hobbled government services, alienated allies, reignited inflation and depressed consumer confidence. The 2026 elections are shaping up to be a major reckoning for Trump and state lawmakers. Democrats might as well start the campaign now.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 10:07 AM with the headline "As Trump moves hit North Carolina, our state lacks strong defenders | Opinion."