In Alabama, Trump moves from the dark rhetoric of his campaign to the admiration of college football fans

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — As Donald Trump railed against immigrants in the Rust Belt on Saturday afternoon, his supporters in the Deep South had turned his earlier broadsides into a rallying cry at a college football game as they looked forward to the former president's later visit prepared in the evening.

“You have to take these people back to where they came from,” Trump said in Wisconsin, as the Republican presidential nominee renewed his focus on Springfield, Ohio, which has been rocked by false claims, which he amplified, that Haitian immigrants are “stealing the dogs and eat.” ..the cats eat” from the neighbors’ houses.

“You have no choice,” Trump continued. “You will lose your culture. You will lose your country.”

Many University of Alabama fans waiting for Trump to visit their campus for the showdown between the No. 4 Crimson Tide and No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs wore stickers and pins that read, “They eat the Dawgs!” They broke into random shouts of “Trump!” Trump! Trump!” Throughout the day there was a preview of the rousing reception he received early in the second quarter, sitting in a 40-yard suite hosted by a wealthy member of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida was received.

Trump's brand of populist nationalism relies heavily on his bleak portrayal of America as a failing nation abused by elites and overrun by black and brown immigrants. But his supporters, particularly white cultural conservatives, hear in this rhetoric an optimistic patriotism expressed in the slogan on his movement's ubiquitous red hats: “Make America Great Again.”

That was the assessment of Shane Walsh, a 52-year-old businessman from Austin, Texas. Walsh and his family decorated their campus tent with a Trump 2024 flag and a professionally made sign with the newly popular message that the Alabama football team will “eat the Dawgs.”

For Walsh, the sign wasn't about immigration or the details of Trump's sensationalism, exaggerations and falsehoods.

“I don’t necessarily like him as a person,” Walsh said. “But I think Washington is broken and it’s the faults of both parties – and Trump is the guy who will stand up. He is many things, but weak is not one of them. He’s an optimistic guy – he just makes you believe that when he’s in charge, we’re going to be OK.”

The idea for the sign came from a meme that he showed his wife. “I thought it was funny,” he said.

Katie Yates, a 47-year-old from Hoover, Alabama, had the same experience with her life-size cutout of the former president. She was stopped repeatedly on the way to her family's usual tent. Trump's likeness was scheduled to join Elvis, “who is always an Alabama fan at our tailgate,” Yates said.

“I’m such a Trump fan,” she said, adding that she couldn’t understand why every American wasn’t.

Yates did not make any disparaging comments about Trump's opponent, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, but simply complained that she was unable to stay for the game and watch as Trump was recognized by the stadium's public address system and featured on large video screens in the stadium the fist was shown clenched in corners of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

That moment came with 12:24 left in the second quarter, just after Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe stormed up the right sideline on Trump's side of the field, giving the Crimson Tide a stunning 28-0 lead over the Vegas-favored Bulldogs.

Trump did not respond to Milroe's diatribe, perhaps recognizing that Georgia, not reliably Republican Alabama, is a key battleground in his fight against Harris. But when “the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump” was introduced to the sellout crowd of more than 100,000 fans – all but a few thousand wearing purple – Trump smiled broadly and clenched his fist, as he did on the in July after an assassin's bullet grazed his ear and left his face bleeding.

The crowd roared its approval, pointing cellphone cameras and their purple and white pom-poms at Trump's suite, where he stood behind the ballistic glass that has become a focal point after two assassination attempts. A few boos and a few extended middle fingers broke Trump's decorum, but they gave way to more chants of: “USA!” USA! USA!”

In fact, not everyone on campus was thrilled.

“I think there is a silent majority among students who are not for Trump,” argued Braden Vick, president of the Alabama College Democrats group. Vick pointed to recent elections in which Democratic candidates, including President Joe Biden in 2020, far exceeded their statewide totals in districts around campus.

“We have this great atmosphere for a top-five game between these two teams with playoff and championship implications,” Vick said, “and it's just a shame that Donald Trump has to try to ruin it with his selfishness .”

Trump came as a guest of Alabama businessman Ric Mayers Jr., a member of Mar-a-Lago. Mayers said in a pregame interview that he invited Trump so he could enjoy a warm reception. And as Mayers noted, Trump is a longtime sports fan. In the 1980s, he tried to buy an NFL team and instead helped create a rival league. And as president, he attended several college games, including a national championship game between Alabama and Georgia.

Mayers also invited Alabama Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville. Britt, a former Alabama student government president, delivered Republicans' response to Biden's final State of the Union address, drawing rebukes after she used a debunked story about human trafficking to echo Trump's warnings about migrants. Tuberville, a former head football coach at Auburn University, Alabama's archrival, is a staunch Trump supporter.

The politicians in the suite were joined by musicians Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. Herschel Walker, a Georgia football icon and failed 2022 Senate candidate, traveled to the game in Trump's motorcade.

Parts of the stadium were surrounded by fences, and numerous metal detectors and tents formed a security perimeter that extended beyond the usual footprint. Sisters of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority showed off their security wristbands before being allowed to enter their sorority house right next to the stadium. Bomb-sniffing dogs stopped catering trucks carrying food. Hundreds of TSA agents set out to complete a potentially unpopular task: conducting an airport-level screening of every ticket holder.

What seemed most important, however, was the possibility that a friendly home crowd could cheer Trump in the same way they cheered the Crimson Tide, unencumbered by anything he had said in Wisconsin or elsewhere as he led an increasingly gloomy gave closing arguments.

“College football fans can get emotional and crazy about their team,” Shane Walsh said. “And Trump supporters can do that too.”

She didn't even care that Trump's tie wasn't crimson. It was Georgia red.