TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A towering Baby Trump protest balloon was knifed and deflated by someone unhappy with its appearance during President Donald Trump’s Saturday trip to Alabama, organizers said.
The incident occurred during Trump’s visit to watch the University of Alabama football game. The balloon, which is over 20 feet (6.1 meters) tall, was set up in a nearby park.
Jim Girvan, the organizer of a group that “adopts” out Baby Trump balloons for protests, said a man charged the balloon with a knife and cut an 8-foot-long (2.4-meter-long) gash in the back. Girvan said the unidentified man was arrested. Tuscaloosa police did not immediately respond to a request for more details.
The orange, diaper-clad, cellphone-clutching caricature of the president is often taken to Trump appearances as a way to protest him.
Baby Trump first rose over London when local activists brainstormed a way to troll Trump. Now several groups raise money to bring balloon replicas around the U.S.
FBI Director Kash Patel says bureau ramping up AI to counter domestic, global threats
ICE lodges detainer for illegal immigrant charged in brutal killing of New York taxi driver
DHS fires back at Senate Dems over ICE detainee death claims: ‘Trying to twist data’
Trump endorses Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman for New York governor after Stefanik exit
Gun jams as shoplifting suspect tries to shoot Ohio police officer at point-blank range in wild bodycam video
LA deputies caught on camera racing into foggy ocean to rescue disoriented paragliders
Vivek Ramaswamy turns to conservative youth to shape the movement’s next phase, analyzes 2026 races
Woman who filed a complaint against Epstein to Clinton FBI vindicated after DOJ release of files
DOT cracks down on thousands of illegal immigrant truckers as agency looks to holiday travel: Duffy
Cruise ship chaos mounts as deaths, crimes on board shatter illusions of safety at sea, experts warn
Second tanker seized near Venezuela as US enforces oil blockade
Meet Minnesota’s fraud ‘mastermind’ accused of playing ‘God,’ wielding ‘fake’ racism claims in Somali scandal
Colorado state senator’s BAC was twice legal limit at time of fatal car crash: Coroner’s report
Elizabeth Smart blasts Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘country club’ prison treatment: ‘Makes me sick’
The council of Trump: Catholicism’s uncomfortable prominence in US politics
Robert Kennedy, a volunteer “baby sitter” who brought the balloon to Tuscaloosa, said the balloon immediately began to sag after it was cut.
The day had been going mostly smoothly, Kennedy said. Some people yelled “Trump 2020” as they passed while others posed for selfies with the balloon. But then Kennedy said a man sidled up on the back of the balloon and attacked it with a knife. He ran away but was caught by police officers, Kennedy said.
Kennedy said he’s accompanied Baby Trump to many appearances and never witnessed an attack on the balloon, although someone did stab a Baby Trump balloon in London earlier this year.
“It is rare to get that kind of anger,” Kennedy said.
Story cited here.
