“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”
If Sessions’ recusal was his original sin, Trump has come to resent him for other reasons, griping to aides and lawmakers that the attorney general doesn’t have the Ivy League pedigree the president prefers, that he can’t stand his Southern accent and that Sessions isn’t a capable defender of the president on television — in part because he “talks like he has marbles in his mouth,” the president has told aides.His loyal minion Laura Ingraham was inspired to issue a warning:
Very unwise if @realDonaldTrump is criticizing Sessions’ accent and legal pedigree—unless POTUS wants to offend his most ardent ‘Bama supporters.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 30, 2018
A man who slashed open a giant “Baby Trump” balloon with a knife during the president’s trip Saturday to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the Alabama-Louisiana State football game was free on bond Sunday, saying in a video that he’d “do it again if given the opportunity.”
A group protesting President Trump’s visit set up the 20-foot inflatable caricature in a park near Bryant-Denny Stadium ahead of the match between the top-ranked college teams. It was looming among the crowds outside when someone ran up and cut an eight-foot gash in the side, organizers said.
Police identified the suspect as 32-year-old Hoyt Hutchinson of Tuscaloosa. They said officers arrested him after he sliced into the balloon and tried to flee.
Hutchinson was charged with first degree criminal mischief, a felony, and was released on $2,500 bond, according to AL.com. It was not clear if he had retained an attorney. After his release, he posted a Facebook live video, saying as he stood in front of a TV with the game playing: “Some liberals tried to come to my hometown and start some trouble. That ain’t happening. I did get arrested. I got charged. That’s all right. I’d do it again given the opportunity.”
The appearance of the Baby Trump balloon marked the third time in recent weeks that the president has faced conspicuous opposition at sporting events. He was met with sustained boos and chants of “lock him up” when he attended a World Series game at Nationals Park in Washington last month. And he got a similar reception when he attended a mixed martial arts event in New York at the beginning of November. The reactions have incensed some of Trump’s supporters, who call the behavior disrespectful.
While the Baby Trump balloon caused a stir outside the Alabama-LSU game, Trump appeared to get a mostly warm welcome inside the stadium, where he was greeted with a mix of boos, cheers and chants of “USA! USA!”
By the time the game ended, a GoFundMe page titled “Restitutions for Baby Trump Stabber” had been set up by a user named Hoyt Hutchinson. It featured a video of a man resembling Hutchinson’s mug shot yelling “Trump 2020!” as officers push him into an SUV.
A description on the page read: “Hoyt made sure our beloved president didn’t have to see this disrespectful balloon on the streets of Ttown today!!” The paged had raised more than $21,000 as of Sunday morning, far surpassing its goal of $6,000. Hutchinson promised on Facebook to donate whatever is left after his legal expenses “to the Republican Party.”