Donald Trump says he’s coming to Tuscaloosa, again. The President announced on his social media site that he’ll be delivering the commencement address at the University of Alabama in early May, as well as at West Point. If true, it won’t be the first time Trump has visited the Tuscaloosa campus. The presidential candidate attended the Alabama Georgia football game last September where he was met with an anti-Trump tailgate. APR listeners heard from Braden Vick, president of UA student democrats. Prior to the game, Vick explained how his group was putting on tailgate with a message
“Simply Donald Trump is not welcome here. I think that's been proven in the election results on campus. For the past seven years, there's been 23 races where Democrats and Republicans have competed on campus. Every single one of them has been won by the Democratic Party,” Vick told APR back in 2024.
Trump also attended the 2019 Alabama LSU game before the Tigers went onto to become national champs. The first couple watched the action from donated skybox while critics of the President took selfies in front of the inflatable Trump baby balloon in nearby Monnash Park. Trump was also at the 2018 National Championship game between Alabama and Georgia in Atlanta. During the 2024 Alabama/Georgia game in Tuscaloosa, Braden Vick of the UA Student Democrats Association said the focus that day was supposed to be on football.
“10s of 1000s of people crawling on here to party and celebrate Alabama football, because that's what we're supposed to be here for, right? It shouldn't be marred by a former president, an orange tangerine coming out here trying to ruin the party and make it his own campaign rally. That's what we're opposing,” he told APR last year.
Alabama is also awaiting the impact of Trump’s current tariffs against China. The U.S. China Business Council says Alabama sent $4 billion dollars worth of goods to the communist nation last year. Those products are now subject to 125% tariffs in response to Trump’s economic action against China. That doesn’t count a reported $4 million in services Alabama sold to Beijing last year.
