Former United States President Donald Trump conducted a rally in Alabama on Saturday night to support a congressman who backed him when he claimed fraud during the presidential election. The rally took place in Cullman despite Alabama declaring a COVID-19 emergency due to the increasing number of infections in the city.
In the rally, Trump showed his support for Mo Brooks, who hopes to run for a Senate seat. In a statement before taking the stage at the rally, the former president said he expects a huge crowd and tremendous enthusiasm from the rally-goers. He added that there were many things to discuss “mostly having to do with bringing our country back.”
During the event, Trump slammed President Joe Biden for his handling of American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, CNN reported. “Biden’s botched exit from Afghanistan is the most astonishing display of gross incompetence by a nation’s leader, perhaps at any time. This is not a withdrawal. This was a total surrender,” he said, adding that the quick takeover of the Taliban over Afghanistan would not have happened if he was still in office.
Mo Brooks is said to be the front-runner for the Senate seat. However, despite being backed by Trump, some Republicans are looking for an alternative to Brooks. This is because the face of his campaign is based on the opposition to the certification of the 2020 election. Further, Brooks made a series of controversial statements in the past months. Recently, he appeared sympathetic towards the man that police arrested as he threatened to blow up a bomb near the U.S. Capitol.
Brook said of the man through Twitter, “Although this terrorist’s motivation is not yet publicly known, and generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society.” This was met with criticism by other politicians and the public in general.
Brooks is running against Katie Britt, the former president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, Lynda Blanchard, the U.S. ambassador of Trump to Slovenia, and a businesswoman named Jessica Taylor.
Due to the COVID-19 concerns in the rally, the event was tagged as a super-spreader. Dr. William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional, said in a statement: “We view this as a potential ‘super-spreader’ event, just like last week’s Rock the South. We’ve seen an increase in patients since that event last weekend, and we’re concerned we could see the same impact.”
