After skipping the president’s “Black Voices for Trump” rally in Atlanta on Friday, a 20-foot balloon mocking Donald Trump greeted him in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for Saturday’s game between two of college football’s top-ranked teams.
Known as “Baby Trump,” the helium-filled caricature depicting the president wearing a diaper and holding a cellphone has appeared at protests in London, Los Angeles and Argentina.
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A GoFundMe page raised nearly $8,000 in two days to get the giant balloon to Tuscaloosa ahead of Trump's appearance at the Alabama-LSU football game.
“We need your help to bring this VIP (very important protester) to the biggest matchup college football has ever seen ...” organizers wrote. “It wouldn’t be a big Gameday in Tuscaloosa without a blimp overhead, so let’s make sure our special guest is greeted properly.”
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According to the fundraising page, bringing “Baby Trump” to Alabama and setting it up four blocks from Bryant-Denny Stadium cost about $4,000.
Unfortunately for the balloon, “Baby Trump” never made it to kickoff, however. Shortly before the game began, the balloon was deflated after getting slashed by an angry protester, the Montgomery-based ABC station reported.
Inside the stadium, the real Donald Trump was greeted with cheers, applause and chants of “U-S-A” after he and first lady Melania Trump were shown on the big screen.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence came to Atlanta on Friday for a fundraiser in Buckhead and a speech downtown launching an initiative to court black Republican voters ahead of their 2020 reelection bid.
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While the iconic balloon didn’t make a visit to Georgia’s capital, just outside the Georgia World Congress Center on Friday, more than 200 anti-Trump protesters carried signs that read “Country over party” and “45 is a racist.”
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The protest was mostly peaceful, but tempers flared briefly when the president’s supporters and opponents encountered each other outside the event center.
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