Trump Lies About Speaking at UA Commencement: His Appearance Will Face Protests

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Malania wave to the crowd from a skybox at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa at the Nov. 9 LSU-Alabama game: Glynn Wilson

The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson

PELL CITY, Ala. – By the time Donald J. Trump flies into Tuscaloosa on Thursday, May 1 for a private, ticketed event for himself in Coleman Coliseum on the eve of University of Alabama graduation ceremonies beginning on May 2, I will be long gone from Alabama and back in the woods just north of the White House in Greenbelt, Maryland. Since I won’t be around here to cover the corrupt, auspicious event, before hitting the road I should comment on it in advance.

Trump claimed on social media he was to be the honored guest speaker at UA’s commencement ceremony. But of course like everything else that spews out of his filthy mouth, it was a damn lie.

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Sources at the university say all commencement events were already planned, but Trump invited himself – so the university will accommodate him rather than offend the vindictive president. A press release says any student who wants to attend the optional event will be given tickets.

With two degrees under my belt from the university, and a lifetime of loyalty to the UA Crimson Tide football team from Bear Bryant through Nick Saban, I am appalled every time Trump shows up in my home state and at my alma mater. He manages to embarrass himself and the state’s Republicans every time, like the time in 2019 when he showed up for the Bama-LSU game and rooted for the Tigers, who won that game because of a fumble. I was there to get the picture.

Trump the Scoundrel Abuses Presidential Privilege by Using the Alabama-LSU Football Game as a Campaign Stop

This time, whether he likes it or not, he will be greeted by protests, at least from the UA College Democrats and some Blue Dot hippies from the Southside of Birmingham, who are already flying a new billboard in his honor. It features an image of the back of Trump’s head and references the civil case against him by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexual assault and won a judgement of $5 million.

Birmingham billboard proests Trump - Trump Lies About Speaking at UA Commencement: His Appearance Will Face Protests

NAJ screen shot

“Molester, felon grabs UA by the diploma,” reads the digital billboard near the statue of Vulcan at 20th and 21st Streets South.

Of course Trump was also convicted on 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal by a New York jury, becoming the first former president to be tried and convicted of a felony.

Trump Found Guilty on All 34 Counts in New York Hush Money Trial

“If there were any other president from any party, it should be a point of pride. But this is not any other president that we’ve ever had,” said Joellyn Beckham, one of the message organizers using the name BBD, or Bright Blue Dot.

The billboard also alludes to an early controversy from a ‘hot mic’ moment on the Access Hollywood television show when Trump was recorded making crude remarks about grabbing women by the “pussy.”

“Yes, there are a lot of people who do want him, but at that school there’s probably an equal number or more who do not want him,” Beckham said. “This will be a stain on the school.”

It’s true that Alabama is a solidly red state that Trump carried in all three of his campaigns for president. And yes, Republicans hold every statewide elected office and maintain a supermajority in the state legislature.

But that does not stop some from making their opposition known.

“This is personal,” said Angela McCain, state organizer for Alabama 5051, a national anti-Trump political organization. “He pretty much besmirches everything he touches here, its policy, the environment or its people. He does a lot of mean-spirited things and people you thought were decent have become indecent.”

“We are doing our best to let him know that he is not welcomed anywhere, not even in the deepest red state,” she said. “This man doesn’t respect anybody so why does he deserve anyone else’s respect? He’s a hypocritical, nasty, nasty, human.”

On social media, the UA Democrats slammed the visit, and called Trump an “unpopular, divisive, and authoritarian” president.

“This insult will not go unanswered,” the College Democrats said in the post. “We cannot allow this to happen with our commencement ceremonies.”

More than 21,000 people have signed a Change.org petition opposing Trump’s appearance.

Robert Davis, a retired history and genealogy professor from the state’s community college system, sent out an email this week to the news media to remind readers of the ugly remarks that Trump made about the University of Alabama when he was attacking his own Attorney General, UA graduate Jeff Sessions, during Trump’s first term.

Trump fired Sessions for his role in the investigation of Russian influence on the U.S. election in 2016, after plucking him from the Senate to be his first attorney general. That opened the door for Birmingham attorney Doug Jones to win the U.S. Senate seat in a special election in 2017. But of course he was defeated in 2020 by former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who has lately hinted he may leave the Senate to run for governor.

“That, however, is minor when you consider Trump’s attacks on Harvard and higher education for being open to everyone and for protecting freedom of speech,” Davis said.

He said it might be worth mentioning “Trump’s attacks on race, sex, sex-orientation, and immigrants in higher education and elsewhere. Do not forget Alireza Doroudi and that more than 1,000 international students are having their visas cancelled.”

Also, he said, “this summer, university students who should be learning by helping with research in ending our worst medical issues will instead, thanks to Trump, be working in fast food restaurants and other such jobs.”

And finally, he said, people should take note of the fact that the Trump administration is moving to resume collecting on defaulted student loans, while the Biden administration was trying to implement a student loan forgiveness program that got tied up in the courts.

“Instead of unneeded tax breaks for the rich and killing IRS investigations of rich tax cheats, we should be profitably investing in our economy and the future of our young people by paying off those loans and setting up free tuition for those students who qualify in institutions that are committed to education instead of fraud and politics,” Davis said.

And don’t forget Trump University, he pointed out, which went out of business after going bankrupt and being accused of a massive fraud against students.

But of course attention spans have grown so short in part due to social media use that no one seems to remember those things anymore.

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Cynthia Coronado
Cynthia Coronado
21 days ago

He is diabolical….dont give him audience….boycott

James Rhodes
James Rhodes
17 days ago

Well written….