HOMEWOOD — Donald Trump, Jr. on Thursday evening attended a packed meet-and-greet event to celebrate the release of his new book, “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.”
The Books-A-Million location at Birmingham metro area’s Brookwood Village became filled to capacity 30 minutes before the event even started, as hundreds and hundreds of people lined up to get a copy of the book and visit with “Don Jr.”
Unlike what you see on cable news when national conservative figures attend events in blue-leaning states or in certain coastal hubs, this Alabama book signing event was orderly, calm and upbeat — completely devoid of protesters.
People young and old, men and women of various races and ethnicities, came dressed in “Make America Great Again” attire, giddy to meet the president’s eldest son. A snaking line started forming two hours prior to the event, with the patriotic, overflow crowd spilling well into the rest of the mall after the store reached capacity.
Trump took time in the midst of signing books and posing for pictures to visit with Yellowhammer News on Thursday, following up an his exclusive interview with us from last week.
The event coincidentally began at almost the same moment former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” and Yellowhammer News asked Don Jr. what he thought of the former Trump cabinet member entering the GOP primary to reclaim his old Alabama Senate seat.
“I always had a good relationship with Jeff Sessions [when he was attorney general],” Trump, Jr. said. “Obviously there’s some issues in that role (attorney general), he was a very good senator, he was very supportive of us early. I think in that role (attorney general), with those animals, you needed someone tougher in the AG role.”
“Honestly, I’m just going to let it go to the people of Alabama,” he continued.
“I just hope they don’t — I think there’s one candidate that wouldn’t work, and the rest would all be great,” Trump added, referring to former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost to now-Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in the 2017 special election.
“The rest [of the GOP candidates besides Moore] would all probably beat Doug Jones,” he added, “and they all seem like good guys. We’ll leave it to the people for now.”
Referring more to Moore, as he has in the past vocally, Don Jr. outlined, “Anyone could have won that race except for that one [candidate]. There’s a lot of things you can do, you just can’t do that. And that’s totally understandable.”
He also spoke on Jones.
“It’s interesting, I was sort of hopeful that Doug Jones would be a moderate — he’s not,” Trump lamented. “He’s a true liberal. And I don’t think that flies in the long run. So, he’ll have a short lived Senate seat, I think. Again, provided that — primaries can be interesting.”
He also underlined that the main goal for Alabama conservatives in the 2020 Senate race is beating Jones.
“We just need good Republicans in those seats, no unforced errors like last time, and I think that works out well for us,” Trump outlined.
Don Jr. emphasized that it was “great” to be back in Alabama.
“It’s sort of nice, you know — I mean I’m in a bookstore and people are wearing Make America Great Again hats without being beaten to death. So, that’s a plus. The support here is great,” he said.
He praised the crowd, which was estimated at well over 1,000 people, as “awesome.”
“What’s interesting is that there are a lot of young people — meaning teens and early twenties. So, it’s cool to see that side of conservatism, as well,” Trump noted.
While he personally will miss the Bama-LSU game this Saturday due to his book signing tour schedule, Trump noted his father will indeed be in attendance.
“That would have been a lot of fun,” he concluded, saying he wish he could attend the big game, too.
THANK YOU Birmingham, Alabama! Over 1200 showed up tonight for the book signing! First stop on my book tour. Have you gotten your copy of Triggered yet?
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 8, 2019
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
