Just In: After his hostile speech, Donald Trump proudly displays his statement fist at a college football game in Alabama.

While Donald Trump yelled at immigrants in the Rust Belt on Saturday afternoon, his fans in the Deep South used his earlier tirades as a rallying cry while watching a college football game and getting ready for his visit later that night.

In Wisconsin, Trump said, “You gotta get these people back where they came from.” That same day, the Republican presidential nominee turned his attention back to Springfield, Ohio, where he said that Haitian immigrants are stealing from neighbors’ homes and “eating the dogs… eating the cats.”

Trump went on, “You have no choice.” “Your way of life is going away.” “Your country is going to fall apart.”

Many University of Alabama fans wore stickers and buttons that said “They’re eating the Dawgs!” because they were excited for Trump to visit their school for a game between the No. 4 Crimson Tide and the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs. All day, they randomly chanted “Trump! Trump! Trump!” This was a taste of the loud welcome he got early in the second quarter while sitting in a suite on the 40-yard line hosted by a rich member of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Trump’s populist nationalism is based on his dark view of America as a failing country whose leaders abuse its people and which is overrun by Black and brown immigrants. But his fans, especially white cultural conservatives, see an upbeat patriotism in his words, which is summed up by the slogan on all of his red hats: “Make America Great Again.”

That’s what 52-year-old investor Shane Walsh from Austin, Texas, thought. Walsh and his family put up a tent on the university quadrangle and decorated it with a Trump 2024 flag and a professionally made sign that said the famous phrase that the Alabama football team would “eat the Dawgs.”

Walsh thought the sign had nothing to do with immigrants or Trump’s lies, exaggerations, and showmanship.

Walsh said, “I don’t always like him as a person.” “But I believe that Washington is broken, and it’s the fault of both parties. Trump is a strong person who will stand up for what’s right.” Not weak is one of the many things that describe him. The way he talks about things makes you think, “If he’s in charge, everything will be fine.”

He told her that the sign idea came from a joke he showed her. He said, “I thought it was funny.”

Katie Yates, who is 47 years old and from Hoover, Alabama, had the same thing happen to her life-sized Abraham Lincoln cutout. She was stopped several times on her way to the tent where her family usually stays. Trump was going to be paired with Elvis, “who is always an Alabama fan at our tailgate,” Yates said.

“She said, “I’m such a Trump fan. I don’t understand how every American isn’t.”

Yates didn’t say anything bad about Trump’s opponent, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris. Instead, she just said she wished she could have stayed for the game to see Trump be recognized by the PA system and shown pumping his fist on big screens in each corner of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

With 12:24 left in the second quarter, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe ran up the right sideline, on Trump’s side of the field, to give his team a huge 28-0 lead over the Bulldogs, who were a heavy favorite to win.

Trump didn’t respond to Milroe’s run, possibly because he knows that Georgia, not solidly Republican Alabama, is a key battleground in his race against Harris. But when “the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” was introduced to the over 100,000 fans—all but a few thousand wearing red—Trump smiled widely and pumped his fist, just like he did on stage in July after an assassin’s bullet hit him in the ear and hurt his face.

The crowd cheered and held up cell phone cameras with red and white pompoms to show Trump’s suite, where he stood behind the ballistic glass that has become standard after two failed murder attempts. A few boos and middle fingers stuck out were rude for a Trump rally, but more shouts of “USA! USA! USA!” drowned them out.

The truth is that not everyone on campus was happy.

Director of Alabama’s College Democrats, Braden Vick, said, “I think there is a silent majority among the students who are not with Trump.” Vick brought up recent elections where Democratic candidates, like President Joe Biden in 2020, did much better in areas around campus than they did overall.

Vicker said, “It’s a shame that Donald Trump has to try to ruin it with his selfishness. We have this great atmosphere for a top-five game between these two teams that could decide who makes the playoffs or the championship.”

Trump came with Alabama investor Ric Mayers Jr., who is a member of Mar-a-Lago. In a talk before the game, Mayers said that he invited Trump so that he would feel welcome. Mayers also said that Trump has been a sports fan for a long time. In the 1980s, he tried to buy an NFL team but instead helped start a different league. As president, he also went to a number of college games, including the national title game between Alabama and Georgia.

Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama were also asked by Mayers. Britt, who used to be president of the Alabama student government, gave the GOP response to Biden’s last State of the Union speech. He was criticized for using a false story about human trafficking to back up Trump’s warnings about migrants. Tuberville is a strong backer of Trump. He used to be the head football coach at Alabama’s rival, Auburn University.

Artists Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. joined the lawmakers in the suite. Herschel Walker, a famous Georgia football player who ran for the Senate but lost in 2022, rode in Trump’s car to the game.

There was fencing around some of the stadium, and a security perimeter made up of many metal detectors and tents that went beyond the normal size. Alpha Omicron Pi sorority sisters had to show their security tags before they could go to their house, which is right next to the stadium. Food trucks were stopped by dogs that could smell bombs. Hundreds of TSA agents were spread out to do a job that might not be popular: they had to make every ticket holder go through airport-level screening.

But what seemed to matter most was that Trump’s home crowd could cheer for him like they cheered for Alabama, without being affected by what he said in Wisconsin or anywhere else as he moves toward a dark conclusion.

Shane Walsh said, “College football fans can get crazy and moody about their team.” “And fans of Trump can too.”

They didn’t even care that Trump’s tie wasn’t red. It was red like Georgia.