Michael Whatley, Hurricane Helene Recovery Czar and FEMA Review Council member, has caught a lot of flak over the past year for his failure to deliver for North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. 

He continued digging himself into a hole this week, but this time, it was for a different type of hurricane failure– his gaffe around North Carolina’s beloved hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes.  

It all started when Whatley’s Senate campaign posted a pair of sloppy AI-generated images ahead of the Canes’ appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. One post threw together a bunch of players’ faces into one generic image. The other post replaced the faces of Canes stars Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis with more AI slop. It was the kind of thing that was immediately recognizable to fans, and they blasted him on social media for it. 

The posts raised questions as to whether Whatley actually knew what he was talking about. So at a campaign stop this week, reporters gave Whatley a chance to clear things up, to explain, AI slop aside, whether he was doing some political pandering, or if he actually followed the team. 

Reporter: “Who are your three favorite players?” 

Whatley: “You know, I think we like them all.” 

Reporter: “Don’t you have a favorite player?” 

Whatley: “Look, I think that that’s a team that’s loaded, they’re playing offense really well.”

Reporter: “Last chance: Can you name one Hurricanes player?” 

Whatley: “Thanks, guys, appreciate it very much.”

Look, there’s nothing wrong with not following hockey, sports, Love Island, Jeopardy, whatever. And we’ve all been in over our heads before– maybe you gave a blank nod to keep a conversation going, offered a light embellishment to save a boring story– that kind of thing. 

But this gaffe was a little different because it was actually a really good illustration of who Whatley is as a leader– he’s all talk, no substance. 

And when the stakes are high– like when Whatley was tapped to lead the federal government’s Hurricane Helene recovery efforts– that’s not the guy you want leading our state. 

When Whatley was tapped by President Trump to lead North Carolina’s Helene recovery, he didn’t show up. North Carolinians said that Whatley was rarely, if ever, spotted in the disaster zone he’s supposed to lead. Records show Whatley only had only one conversation in 2025 with the head of North Carolina’s recovery office. 

North Carolina has ended up seeing historic delays by the Trump administration when it comes to delivering recovery funding. But Whatley has sold his work as recovery czar as a mission accomplished. He claimed that 99% of roads were rebuilt and 99% of bridges were repaired– the actual number is closer to 70%. He claimed that $9 billion of federal dollars had been put into North Carolina– the actual number is about a third of that: $2.9 billion. 

AI generated images make Canes fans like inflated numbers make a good recovery czar. All talk, no substance. North Carolina sees right through it.