Neil Young, wife actress Daryl Hannah surprise crowd at Victoria old-growth rally

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — As Donald Trump railed against immigrants Saturday afternoon in the Rust Belt, his supporters in the Deep South had turned his earlier broadsides into a rallying cry over a college football game as they prepared for the former president’s visit later in the evening.

“You gotta get these people back where they came from,” Trump said in Wisconsin, as the Republican presidential nominee again focused on Springfield, Ohio, which has been roiled by false claims he amplified that Haitian immigrants are stealing and “eating the dogs … eating the cats” from neighbors’ homes.

“You have no choice,” Trump continued. “You’re going to lose your culture. You’re going to lose your country.”

Many University of Alabama fans, anticipating Trump’s visit to their campus for a showdown between the No. 4 Crimson Tide and No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs, sported stickers and buttons that read: “They’re eating the Dawgs!” They broke out in random chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” throughout the day, a preview of the rousing welcome he received early in the second quarter as he sat in a 40-yard-line suite hosted by a wealthy member of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Trump’s brand of populist nationalism leans heavily on his dark rendering of America as a failing nation abused by elites and overrun by Black and brown immigrants. But his supporters, especially white cultural conservatives, hear in that rhetoric an optimistic patriotism encapsulated by the slogan on his movement’s ubiquitous red hats: “Make America Great Again.”

That was the assessment by Shane Walsh, a 52-year-old businessman from Austin, Texas. Walsh and his family decorated their tent on the university quadrangle with a Trump 2024 flag and professionally made sign depicting the newly popular message forecasting the Alabama football team “eating the Dawgs.”

For Walsh, the sign was not about immigration or the particulars of Trump’s showmanship, exaggerations and falsehoods.

“I don’t necessarily like him as a person,” Walsh said. “But I think Washington is broken, and it’s both parties’ faults — and Trump is the kind of guy who will stand up. He’s a lot of things, but weak isn’t one of them. He’s an optimistic guy — he just makes you believe that if he’s in charge, we’re going to be all right.”

The idea for the sign, he said, grew out of a meme he showed his wife. “I thought it was funny,” he said.

Katie Yates, a 47-year-old from Hoover, Alabama, had the same experience with her life-sized cutout of the former president. She was stopped repeatedly on her way to her family’s usual tent. Trump’s likeness was set to join Elvis, “who is always an Alabama fan at our tailgate,” Yates said.

“I’m such a Trump fan,” she said, adding that she could not understand how every American was not.

Yates offered nothing disparaging about Trump’s opponent, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, instead simply lamenting that she could not stay for the game and see Trump be recognized by the stadium public address system and shown pumping his fist on large video screens in the four corners of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

That moment came with 12:24 left in the second quarter, shortly after Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe ran up the right sideline, on Trump’s side of the field, to give the Crimson Tide an eye-popping 28-0 lead over the Vegas-favored Bulldogs.

Trump did not react to Milroe’s scamper, perhaps recognizing that Georgia, not reliably Republican Alabama, is a key battleground in his contest against Harris. But when “the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump” was introduced to the capacity crowd of more than 100,000 fans — all but a few thousand wearing crimson — Trump smiled broadly and pumped his fist, like he had done on stage in July after the bullet of a would-be assassin grazed his ear and bloodied his face.

The crowd roared its approval, raising cell phone cameras and their crimson-and-white pompoms toward Trump’s suite, where he stood behind the ballistic glass that has become a feature after two assassination attempts. A smattering of boos and a few extended middle fingers broke Trumpian decorum, but they yielded to more chants of: “USA! USA! USA!”

Indeed, not everyone on campus was thrilled.

“There is, I think, a silent majority among the students that are not with Trump,” argued Braden Vick, president of Alabama’s College Democrats chapter. Vick pointed to recent elections when Democratic candidates, including President Joe Biden in 2020, vastly outperformed their statewide totals in precincts around the campus.

“We have this great atmosphere for a top-five game between these two teams, with playoff and championship implications,” Vick said, “and it’s just a shame that Donald Trump has to try to ruin it with his selfishness.”

Trump came as the guest of Alabama businessman Ric Mayers Jr., a member of Mar-a-Lago. Mayers said in an interview before the game that he invited Trump so that he could enjoy a warm welcome. And, as Mayers noted, Trump is a longtime sports fan. He tried to buy an NFL team in the 1980s and helped launch a competing league instead. And he attended several college games as president, including an Alabama-Georgia national championship game.

Mayers also invited Alabama Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville. Britt, a former student government president at Alabama, delivered the GOP response to Biden’s last State of the Union address, drawing rebukes after using a disproven story of human trafficking to echo Trump’s warnings about migrants. Tuberville, a former head football coach at Auburn University, Alabama’s archrival, is a staunch Trump supporter.

Joining the politicians in the suite were musicians Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. Herschel Walker, a Georgia football icon and failed Senate nominee in 2022, traveled in Trump’s motorcade to the game.

Fencing surrounded parts of the stadium, with scores of metal detectors and tents forming a security perimeter beyond the usual footprint. Sisters of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority showed their security wristbands before being allowed to their sorority house directly adjacent to the stadium. Bomb-sniffing dogs stopped catering trucks carrying food. Hundreds of TSA agents spread out to do a potentially unpopular job: imposing airport-level screening for each ticket-holder.

But what seemed to matter most was a friendly home crowd’s opportunity to cheer for Trump the same way they cheered the Crimson Tide, unburdened by anything he said in Wisconsin or anywhere else as he makes an increasingly dark closing argument.

“College football fans can get emotional and kooky about their team,” Shane Walsh said. “And so can Trump supporters.”

They didn’t even mind that Trump’s tie was not crimson. It was Georgia red.

CHICAGO (AP) — Jonathan Dean scored his first Major League Soccer goal in the 84th minute for the Chicago Fire on Saturday night in a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC.

Ariel Lassiter cut back to evade a defender and the played an arcing ball from the left corner of the area to the back post, where a charging Dean tapped in a one-touch finish from point-blank range to cap the scoring.

Prince Owusu converted from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time to give Toronto (11-17-4) a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Chicago (7-16-9) has just one win and four losses in its last six games.

Chris Brady a save for the Fire.

Sean Johnson stopped two shots for Toronto.

—

AP MLS:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – The Toronto Maple Leafs have won both NHL pre-season games against the Montreal Canadiens, bringing home a physical 2-1 win on Saturday evening at the Centre Bell.

“The group was involved and they’re competing out there, it was a really hard game,” said Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube. “I don’t really do a lot — they just go and play. They’re smart guys they know what they’re doing.”

Nicholas Robertson scored twice for the Maple Leafs, while Kirby Dach scored Montreal’s lone goal late in the third period.

Less than four minutes into the game, the raucous Centre Bell abruptly fell crowd quiet when newly acquired forward Patrik Laine collided with Cédric Paré and Jacob Quillan of the Leafs in what appeared to be a knee-on-knee hit. Laine did not return to the game.

The injury sparked retaliation from Arber Xhekaj whose actions earned him a game misconduct, leaving the Canadiens with a seven-minute penalty to kill. Including an earlier injury to David Reinbacher, the Canadiens found themselves three players short after less than five minutes.

“It was a very emotional first period and definitely set the tone for the rest of the game. You’re down to 17 players and you have a really short bench,” said Montreal head coach Martin St Louis. “You don’t want to overwork your players, but you’re almost forced to.”

Toronto capitalized on the man advantage when Robertson’s shot squeezed past netminder Samuel Montembeault. For the rest of the first frame, the Maple Leafs’ defence shone, killing off three penalties and conceding hardly any dangerous chances.

The Maple Leafs penalty kill last season left a lot to be desired, but this performance showed a concise and organized block that was perfect all evening.

“It was a special teams battle from the start of the game, and I think we executed. We scored a goal on the power play and we did really well on the (penalty kill) to shut them down and not give too many chances,” said Matthew Knies.

“It’s just constant pressure. I think we didn’t let them get set up well and if they saw something we never let them get a good opportunity from it.”

Montreal started the second period with renewed enthusiasm, committing more to the forecheck. However, rivalry and animosity grabbed the spotlight as the period was littered with scrums after nearly every whistle and two fights, leading to 73 penalty minutes between both teams by the end of the second frame.

“I think we did a good job sticking together and taking care of one another,” said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. “I think once we started playing five-on-five we showed up a lot better.

“The flow of the game was just really choppy so once we once we got to five-on-five we showed a lot of good things.”

Toronto once against shut the door in the Canadiens face during the period, allowing nine shots but killing off three penalties including a dangerous four-on-three in order to keep a 1-0 lead at the second intermission.

The Maple Leafs started the third period with much more progressive play, taking their speed to the Canadiens defencemen and finding enough space to double their lead. After a quick breakout, Robertson found himself alone with the netminder, once again firing a shot from a difficult angle but finding the five-hole.

“It’s not only the goals, it’s (Robertson’s) effort and the way he played. I though his work ethic was excellent and his competitiveness,” said Berube. “He made good decisions with the puck and hopefully he can get a couple goals for us.”

Montreal thought they had found an answer less than a minute later, but Cole Caufield was denied by an excellent sprawling save from Dennis Hildeby.

With the goalie pulled the Canadiens continued to pile on the pressure in order to find a way back into the game. They got it with less than two minutes to play after a slick passing play left Dach with a wide-open net, cutting the deficit to one.

It was too little too late for the home team, however, as the Maple Leafs held on to seal the victory.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Canadiens: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.