Ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, one of the top Democrat voices in Alabama is urging voters to give the incoming president a chance.
Joe Reed, the controversial chair of the Alabama Democratic Conference, told WKRG that judgment calls on Trump should wait until he takes office.
“He deserves a chance to prove himself and we’ll see,” said Reed.
“I know a lot of Alabama voted for him. They voted for him because they say he’s conservative. I don’t buy a New York Yankee to be conservative now if you want to know the truth about it. I think he’s wild,” he said. “Maybe before he leaves office somebody can get Mr. Trump’s attention on realities on what America’s about, on realities of what people are about.”
Other well-known Alabama Democrats have agreed that the President-Elect deserves the benefit of the doubt going into his administration.
“I was disappointed that my candidate didn’t win, number one. But like I said, it’s over now, he’s gonna be the President of the United States,” said Charles Barkley, an Auburn grad. “We have to respect the office, and we have to give him a chance. That’s the bottom line.”
“You know, somebody always loses an election,” Barkley added. “We’ve been fortunate we won the past couple with President Obama. We didn’t win this one, but like I said, I respect the office of President of the United States, and we have to give him a chance. Everything he’s said in the past, that’s water under the bridge. And we have to give him a chance, and we have to support him because he’s the President of the United States of America.”
