Backers of President Donald Trump gathered in Hoover Saturday, part of a day of marches and rallies across the country to express public support for the president. At the rally in front of Hoover Tactical Firearms, speakers touted President Trump’s election victory as part of a movement that upended political expectations and shocked the mainstream media.
“The press was wrong from the very get-go,” Rep. Jim Carnes (R-Vestavia Hills) told the crowd. “I knew they were wrong when I would go to coffee shops and talk to people all over the state of Alabama. They were saying the same thing that Donald Trump was saying at the beginning of his campaign.”
Besides criticizing the media, speakers called for support of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session, a former Alabama Senator, who last week came under fire for failing to disclose meetings he had with the Russian ambassador during his confirmation hearing about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Andrew Yeager,WBHM
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker gives an invocation at Saturday’s Trump rally in Hoover.
Many speakers praised Trump for taking a hardline on illegal immigration and his promise to build a wall along the United States’ southern border with Mexico.
Clarissa Winchester addressed the audience by explaining her father emigrated legally from Mexico in the 1960s. She says in 2005 her sister-in-law was killed in an accident by a drunk driver who was in the country illegally.
“Illegal immigration kills innocent Americans far too often in this country and it’s time to support President Trump and his policies to put America first again,” says Winchester.
Other speakers spoke against the Common Core education standards and criticized the Obama administration for what they say was a lack of support for law enforcement and respect for the military.
State Sen. Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) pointed to protests and marches by Trump opponents and suggested they haven’t gotten over Trump’s win in November. The grassroots activist group Indivisible Alabama, which opposes many Trump administration policies, held a counter-event Saturday in Avondale.
Alluding to groups such as this, Waggoner said, “The other team might as well go home, quit pouting, quit crying and just realize Donald Trump’s here for eight years.”
Participants vowed to continue to hold public events and speak out in support of Trump.
“We’ve been impressed with some of the things our president has said,” Phillip Brown, chairman of the Alabama Minority GOP, says. “But don’t think for one moment that we’re not still on the edge of victory. We cannot sit down.”
Andrew Yeager,WBHM
Kevin Hurd of Birmingham (left) and Roseanne Hurd of Opelika pose before joining the march through Birmingham.
A handful of rally participants later marched through Birmingham’s Lakeview and Southside neighborhoods. Attendees came from the Birmingham area, as well as Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Opelika and Atlanta, Georgia.
Linda Unkenholz says she came to the rally because she’s tired of Trump being belittled.
“We need to unite,” says Unkenholz. “I don’t care if you’re a Republican or Democrat, we need to support our government, Trump. We need to support our United States.”