Donald Trump, Alabama and the ghost of George Wallace

Politico ^ | 08/21/2015 | BEN SCHRECKINGER

[Flick Lives]

MOBILE, Ala. — It was immigration, not segregation, that brought some 20,000 southerners — far fewer than predicted — out for Donald Trump on Friday night, but the ghost of George Wallace loomed large.

Wallace, an avowed segregationist, was the last presidential candidate to win electoral votes as a third-party candidate. The threat of Trump doing so, propelled by a hardline immigration stance that many have condemned as racist, looms over the Republican Party now as it did over the Democratic Party then, even as the enthusiasm of his following, for once, fell far short of expectations.

Wallace carried five Southern states, and Trump, who is leading early national polls in the race for the Republican nomination, touted his leads in Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Texas.

Trump also panned birthright citizenship as a bad deal for the U.S., saying, “We’re the only place just about that’s stupid enough to do it.” Trump’s recently released immigration plan calls for ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, according to the legal consensus, though Trump disputes that point.

Trump invited Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of Congress’s most ardent immigration hardliners who helped the businessman craft his immigration plan, to the podium, where the two embraced.

He also attacked his favorite punching bag, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, on the issue. “ Jeb Bush, ugh,” said Trump, pausing for dramatic effect, before calling the former governor “totally in favor of Common Core, weak on immigration.”

Praising a woman who had brought Trump’s book “Art of the Deal” to the rally, he said, “I’ve got to get her the hell out of here, she’s so beautiful.”

[McGruff]

Keep it up POLITICO. Trump will gain another 10%-20%.

[mkjessup]

Might want to bear in mind that Wallace was a Democrat.

He ran as an Independent in 1968, and when he returned to the Democratic fold in the '72 primaries, he got shot and damn near killed for his trouble, thanks to one Arthur Bremer and whoever was behind that attempted assassination. Then the 'RATS ended up being taken over by the left wing McGovern wing of the party, and we all know how that turned out for them.

[Sons of Union Vets]

Re: BTW Pollutico - Wallace was a Democrat.

BRAVO!!! Many people lose sight of the fact that most of the institutionalized racism and bigotry ( i.e. the Jim Crow Laws ) which existed after the Civil War and beyond can be laid at the door of the Democrats.

BTW Pollutico - Martin Luther King was a Republican.

Democrats even tried to smear Martin Luther King back in the 1960's - until they decided it was politically expedient to hijack the Civil Rights Movement!

Here is an interesting article from the National Black Republican Associatiuon

Democrats Smeared MLK

By Frances Rice

http://www.nationalblackrepublicans.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.DYK-DemocratsSmearedMLK

[smoothsailing]

Now darlin', he looked cool as a cucumber in his body armor, and you know it!

Plus, the crowd adored him!

[GOPJ]

The ghost of Nixon is Hillary...

Hillary and the filthy lying democrats who back her.

[GOPJ]

Why post liberal propaganda?

[trisham]

What a hack the author is.

[kiryandil]

What's great is that most libtards & progtards are historically illiterate to the extent that they don't really know who "George Wallace" was...

LOL!

[Tanniker Smith]

that brought some 20,000 southerners — far fewer than predicted

Seriously? A month ago, who would have predicted 20,000?

[nascarnation]

Oh heavens and it was opening night of hs football down there.
If that was Burney Sanders the MSM would be fainting.

[Tanniker Smith]

I heard that they were expecting 30, which is why they got the stadium, which (again, heard) holds 40.

Right there I saw the problem with the visuals of a stadium being 1/4 empty, knowing some would focus their cameras on the empty seats.

[smoothsailing]

Know your enemy

[quantumman]

I have a friend who was guarding Wallace that day and disarmed Bremer. He said when you are in crowds like that, viz. the Trump picture, personal protection is impossible. I am sure Trump was wearing a vest.

[Beagle8U]

“... and when he returned to the Democratic fold in the ‘72 primaries...”

He won the MI demorat primary that year.

[Sons of Union Vets]

Great photo!!!

I love the "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" hat. Sessions wore one in white at the rally. Hope they become "the fashion" for 2016!!!

[headstamp 2]

Yes, as we all know ANY political rally that takes place in the south is automatically racist to idiots like this author.

[miss marmelstein]

Look at the expression on that woman’s face!

[kvanbrunt2]

forgot the barf alert

[Maelstorm]

Everyone knows that Trump is not a racist. They’ve seen him interact with people of all races on his tv show and in his business life as well as his celebrity life. If they want to start this smearing of him as a “George Wallace” they will not have the desired effect. Foolish attacks of political correctness have failed against him so far and they will continue to fail.

[mkjessup]

He [Wallace] won the MI demorat primary that year.

He did indeed, in addition to the Maryland primary, and in Florida, Wallace won EVERY county. He had a lot of grassroot support (as did Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson who actually had more delegates than Wallace at the convention, 525 to 382, of course nobody shot Jackson), all of which is why I think there was more to Bremer's assassination attempt in Laurel Maryland than will ever be known.