Trump Compares Greenville, NC Rally Demonstrators to Paris Rioters at Midterm Stop
At a Tuesday night campaign stop for Senate candidate Michael Whatley, president Donald Trump likened protesters who interrupted his speech to the unrest in France. Two protesters told Sourced why they took part.
GREENVILLE, N.C. – President Donald Trump compared multiple protesters who interrupted his campaign rally in Greenville on Tuesday night to people arrested during unrest in France, according to The Independent. He then described the Greenville disruptions as a smaller version of what has happened in Paris, France.
What happened in Greenville
The rally took place at Pitt-Greenville Airport. Newsweek, citing Spectrum News, reported that Trump was expected to promote Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley and Republican House candidate Laurie Buckhout. Midterm elections are scheduled for November 3, and early voting is underway.
WITN reported that multiple protesters were removed during the speech. The Independent reported that two protesters heckled Trump in succession a few minutes into the speech. Trump responded by saying the protesters would be criticized by their parents when they got home, a line the outlet said he has used at past rallies in Texas, Ohio and Alaska this month.
Trump then compared the protesters to people arrested in the French protests, saying the hecklers were paid by far-left groups of the kind seen in France, and then described the Greenville event as "a slightly lesser event." The reports reviewed for this article did not describe any evidence offered for the claim that the hecklers were paid.
During a later disruption, The Independent reported, Trump said "Don't hurt them" and then mimicked punching. Fox News and WITN reported that Trump also said he would treat potential rioters in the United States "very, very rough."
Who the protesters were, and their motives
No published report reviewed for this article fully identified all of the protesters or their group. Sourced is not naming individuals unless they have given permission or mentioned it publicly, but the ones that have come forward were released by Sourced first due to our on-the-ground reporting.
A Sourced writer attended events leading up to the rally and noted that at least three of the people involved were ECU students, alumni, or members of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s organization at East Carolina University. A person who spoke with some of them beforehand gave the same account. These sources said the protest was planned in advance and that the organization did not pay anyone to protest. Sourced’s social media sources, and video from WNCT-TV also reported that the crowd booed the protesters as they were escorted out, followed by a mass-chant: "USA! USA!"
Protesters being escorted out of the Greenville rally, in a compilation from WNCT-TV. | Source: WNCT-TV via Facebook.
Recent published reports describe two hecklers in succession and reported “multiple” removals.
One protester, Adam Sultan, directly said in a public social media comment replying to Sourced writer Christian Brasch that he was the first protester shown in the video from the event. Sultan said he took part to draw attention to what he described as inconsistent concern about gas prices, saying some people objected to high prices under former President Joe Biden but accepted them under Trump. He said Trump has the power to lower prices by withdrawing from Iran.
A second protester, Avalon, said publicly on Instagram that she took part. According to her post and video she provided to Sourced, she shouted for the release of the Epstein files and called Trump a rapist before being escorted out. Video from the event shows her being escorted out. At the end of the video she provided, a woman in the crowd, who Sourced observed was attending in support of Trump, called her a rapist in response to her heckling.
Video posted by Avalon of her demonstrating at the rally before being escorted out. At the end of the clip, a woman in the supporting crowd mocks the demonstration. Source: avalon.e07 via Instagram Highlights.
The counts and details listed here come only from Sourced’s on-the-ground sources and reporting, on-the-ground, unedited, raw social media reporting, and a comment from one of the protesters.
Sourced cannot independently confirm the group’s affiliation, and the group has not commented publicly in the reports reviewed. Sultan’s comment did not address the group’s affiliation. Membership in a campus political organization is typically separate from Trump’s claim that the hecklers were "paid", and the independent reports and student organization data reviewed did not include evidence for that claim.
Other remarks at the rally
Trump called Whatley "fantastic," according to The Independent, and recalled Whatley's time as Republican National Committee chair alongside his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. The outlet reported that Trump then commented on Lara Trump's physical fitness. He also recalled looking at Ohio Republican Sen. Jon Husted, a former college football player, at a rally in Ohio last week. According to The Independent, Trump said he looked at Husted's rear-end, and likened it to a pile of muscle. The outlet noted he had drawn headlines for similar comments at the Ohio rally as well. WITN then reported that Trump called protesters who got into the event "losers" while supporters chanted, and said people who shout get "whisked right out."
The reports reviewed did not include responses from Husted or Lara Trump.
The French unrest
The protests in France began last month as student demonstrations over school conditions, which grew into a nationwide movement over the cost of living and fuel prices, according to Axios. The French Interior Ministry said about 550,000 people marched on October 17, when looting and fires were reported in Paris, Marseille and other cities. Fox News reported that more than 2,500 people have been taken into custody and that curfews are in place in several cities. President Emmanuel Macron blamed the violence on "insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals" while saying the marchers had legitimate demands, according to AP reporting cited by Axios.
Trump's earlier remarks on France
The Greenville comparison followed other comments Trump made this week. At a rally in Kansas on Monday, he said the destruction in France showed what is at stake in the midterms, and he blamed migrants and communists for the violence, according to Fox News and Axios. He also told reporters the situation in France was about "immigration, not schools," a claim Axios noted he made without evidence. Axios then reported that Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans have also pointed to the French protests when speaking about immigration and the election.
Trump's earlier remarks about North Carolina
Trump made comments about North Carolina at a September 16 rally at Gastonia Municipal Airport, also in support of Whatley. According to Spectrum News, Trump said North Carolina was once not thought of as a criminally dangerous state, and that it is now "one of the most violent and one of the worst in the whole nation." WBTV, in a report with Axios Charlotte, said Trump tied the change to Cooper, who was governor before Josh Stein.
Both outlets checked the claim against crime data. Spectrum News reported that North Carolina ranks 21st for violent crime under the latest FBI estimates, behind states such as Alaska, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. WBTV, citing a Newsweek analysis of FBI data, reported an estimated 309 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2025, compared with a national rate of 327.6. Spectrum News also noted that violent crime nationally has been falling and that the state has had high-profile violent crimes. WBTV reported that the White House said earlier that day that crime had fallen in North Carolina and Charlotte, citing state and city police data.
Neither report quoted Cooper or Whatley responding to the remarks.
Sources
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