He’s a New York businessman, but Donald Trump is telling Alabamians he loves football and they are his “people” ahead of a massive rally planned for thousands Friday at a stadium on the Gulf Coast.
“This is just an amazing place,” Trump said while appearing with host Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 106.5 in Mobile, Ala. “And it’s my people. We’re all workers. We work hard. We think hard. And we love the country.”
Originally planned for the city’s civic center, Trump’s campaign decided to re-locate his Friday campaign appearance to Mobile’s Ladd-Peebles Stadium — where events like the Senior Bowl and the GoDaddy.com Bowl are played — which can accommodate up to 50,000 people.
“This was supposed to be for 500 to a thousand people, Sean,” Trump said. “I don’t know what you’re hearing. I’m hearing we’re going to have 30,000 people, maybe more than that. It’s going to be amazing.”
Asked how he’s going to make his entrance, Trump said: “I could chopper in, but I think we won’t do that. That might be a little bit too much.”
“I do love football by the way,” Trump added. “There’s probably no football place on earth thats better than you know the whole state of Alabama. It’s amazing to watch. I love it.”
Asked about his new immigration plan, Trump said he doesn’t have to change the 14th amendment to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.
“You know, the scholars are all coming out now saying I was right…that was originally enacted, I think in the 1860s, having to do with slavery,” he said.
Trump was also asked what he would do as president if ISIS kidnapped an American and demanded a ransom. He said he would not try to make a deal.
“You can’t negotiate,” he said. “You cannot do it. Once you do that…every person you know is going to be in the same position. You can’t do that. As cold as that sounds.”