The crowd then erupted into a chorus of cheering and clapping at Trump's comments, who added: "I'm not taking any chances. I'm not having any arguments. Let me look up and I'll say it's not even close."
Thursday's rally also saw Trump repeatedly brand rival Joe Biden "corrupt" and claim the Democratic presidential nominee was in the pocket of the Chinese government.
The President spent much of the rally downplaying the severity of the virus that's killed over 217,000 Americans, after largely recovering himself.
"It's going to peter out. It's going to end," he said of the pandemic — just as he had last winter — even as cases have continued to increase nationwide in recent weeks.
And he mentioned that his own son, Barron, "recovered so fast" from the virus to bolster his argument for why schools can and should fully reopen.
US President Donald Trump has bragged that the only person more famous than him is Jesus Christ. Photo / Getty
"We've learned about this disease. You've got to open up your businesses, open up your schools, get it going," he said.
Trump also took his most overt swipe yet at Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, with whom Trump has publicly disagreed on the coronavirus. He said Fauci is a nice guy, "so I keep him around". But he also described Fauci, who has served in administrations of both parties, as a Democrat.
"Everybody knows that. He's Cuomo's friend," Trump said, a reference to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The President's appearance in North Carolina underscores the challenge confronting him in the final weeks of the election as multiple polls have shown Trump trailing Biden nationally and in many swing states. Trump has spent much of the week on defense, campaigning in states he won in 2016, like North Carolina and Iowa, where he campaigned Wednesday.
But despite the polling, Trump predicted a "big, beautiful red wave" on Election Night, before referencing another one of his major challenges: A cash disadvantage to the Biden campaign, which just announced raising a record-breaking US$383 million in September.
"I don't want to say it too loud, because they've got all this money, they'll spend money like crazy," Trump said, after predicting a GOP wave.
