MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of people lined up hours before Donald Trump’s arrival at a football stadium Friday, eager to see and hear the Republican presidential candidate, television star and New Yorker hold a rally in the Deep South.
The fans, some carrying signs, others wearing T-shirts supporting the billionaire businessman, spoke of his outsider status in a crowded field dominated by former and current elected officials as the song “Sweet Home Alabama” blared from loudspeakers.
“Donald Trump is telling the truth and people don’t always like that,” said Donald Kidd, a 73-year-old retired pipe welder from Mobile. “He is like George Wallace, he told the truth. It is the same thing.”
Wallace, a fierce opponent of civil rights, served as governor of Alabama and sought the presidency multiple times.
Kidd said Trump is a “breath of fresh air,” and praised him as a businessman with common sense.
Interest in the candidate forced organizers to move a planned rally from the Mobile Civic Center, which holds about 2,000 people, to Ladd-Peebles Stadium, a 40,000-seat football stadium.
The Alabama secretary of state’s office said more than 30,000 were expected to attend the event Friday night.
Trump tweeted: “We are going to have a wild time in Alabama tonight! Finally, the silent majority is back!”
During the height of the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon sought the backing of the “silent majority,” widely considered to be Americans who stood behind the Republican president and weren’t getting the attention that protesters attracted. Trump has derided elected officials and cast his candidacy as an outsider’s bid.
Before his appearance, Trump went after his rivals, particularly former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and stepped up his criticism of immigrants living in the country illegally.
“How crazy – 7.5% of all births in U.S. are to illegal immigrants, over 300,000 babies per year. This must stop. Unaffordable and not right!” he said on Twitter.
Earlier this week, Trump said he wanted to end “birthright citizenship” for children of immigrants here illegally, rescind Obama administration executive orders on immigration and expand deportation, allowing only “the good ones” to return through an expedited process.
Native-born children of immigrants — even of those living illegally in the U.S. — have been automatically considered U.S. citizens since the adoption of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment in 1868.
Trump has used the term “anchor babies,” which some immigrants consider derogatory.
Bush has said he believes there should be greater enforcement against pregnant women who cross the border to have children who then gain U.S. citizenship. But he said people born in the country should have American citizenship.
“His massive inconsistencies aside, @realDonaldTrump’s immigration plan is not conservative and does not reflect our nation’s values,” Bush wrote.
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