Former president Donald Trump will attend the Alabama versus Georgia football game on Saturday, Sept. 28, in Tuscaloosa, his campaign confirmed Wednesday.
Talk of the former president attending the game arose after political commentator and journalist Mark Halperin posted on X that Trump planned to attend the game.
Trump isn’t a stranger to Alabama football games, as he has previously attended two of them.
The former president attended his first Crimson Tide football game when the team defeated Georgia in Atlanta in the 2018 National Championship game; however, he left at halftime when the Bulldogs had the lead and thus missed UA quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s game-winning 2nd-and-26 touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith.
In 2019, Trump came to his second game, this time in Tuscaloosa, where the Crimson Tide lost to the LSU Tigers, who went on to win the national championship the same year.
Morris McPherson, a junior majoring in business, said the possibility of Trump coming to the game is “crazy.” He said he hopes the former president will be rooting for the Crimson Tide.
McPherson expects security preparations to go above and beyond to protect the former president.
As a recent transfer student, McPherson said he was already excited for the upcoming game and thought it would be even more memorable if the former president was there. He said ticket prices were expensive; however, seeing a former president at the game was worth the investment.
“This is something I’m going to tell my kids,” McPherson said. “When I was in school, the former president came to a football game and I was there.”
Although McPherson said he doesn’t consider himself a political person, he does think he and his friends were “financially happier” when Trump was in office.
Brilyn Hollyhand, chair of the Republican National Convention Youth Advisory Council and Tuscaloosa resident, wrote in an email that he pitched the idea of Trump visiting college campuses.
Hollyhand wrote that he worked with senior Trump campaign officials and new RNC leadership to create a plan to bring the former president to college campuses to interact with students, including at football games, tailgates, and fraternity and sorority partnerships.
“I’m looking forward to the possibility of welcoming my friend back to Sweet Home Alabama, the college football capital of the world,” Hollyhand wrote. “I know my generation is eager to hear his message of stability as we live in a time of constant chaos!”
Joel Teague, a senior majoring in criminal justice, said he is excited to see the highest member of a government office at an Alabama game. The recent assassination attempts on Trump, however, do lead Teague to believe security measures will be heightened, with everyone on high alert
Teague said the former president’s presence at the game won’t impact his political views, as he has already made his decision to cast his vote for Trump this November.
“I don’t know if he just likes a good college football game or PR,” Teague said. “Personally, I couldn’t really care less, because my thoughts on Donald Trump are settled.”
Teague said he plans to arrive at the stadium early to get a seat and hopes the University will take the proper measures to ensure the safety of its students and the former president.
Navid Sadigh, a junior majoring in computer science, said he feels lucky that the former president might come to his college campus.
Sadigh said he also expects security measures to be heightened. He expects that more people will come to the game if Trump is there, which will cause longer wait times to enter the stadium.
“I know some people might not like him, but there should be a sense of pride in being in the same place as him, especially after the two assassination attempts on his life,” Sadigh said.
Braden Vick, president of UA College Democrats, wrote that the former president is a “bad luck charm” for the Crimson Tide.
“The last time that Donald Trump tried to turn a Bama game into a glorified campaign rally, we lost,” Vick wrote. “We are not your campaign rally, Donald.”
Vick added in an email statement, which was sent before the Trump campaign confirmed that he would attend the game, that if Trump’s visit was confirmed, then the student organization would not sit back and be silent; it would respond.
