WATCH:
🇺🇸 Trump thanked Elon for getting Starlink into the North Carolina mountains when the phones went dead.
He told a Gastonia Senate crowd that he called and said: They all want it; send it. Hundreds of terminals showed up after Helene wiped the signal out of the western counties.…
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 17, 2026
President Trump thanked Elon Musk while speaking in Gastonia, North Carolina, recalling how Starlink helped restore communications after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of western North Carolina in 2024. Trump told the crowd he called Musk and pushed for Starlink equipment to be sent quickly after phone and internet service went down, later pointing to the response as an example of rapid private-sector action during a crisis. Federal officials said at the time that Starlink systems were also already being deployed through the government’s disaster response.