(Video above: State Rep. Ed Henry (R-Hartselle), Alabama co-chair of the Trump campaign, speaks at a campaign event)
FLORENCE, Ala. — State Representative Ed Henry (R-Hartselle), the Alabama co-chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, this week delivered an impassioned speech detailing why he is supporting the billionaire businessman over other candidates.
Speaking from first-hand experience as an elected official, Henry said the political system is deeply flawed because it encourages office-holders not to challenge the status quo.
“If you’ll just sit tight, mind your business, mind your tone, you’ll get your opportunity,” he said. “But what happens is the more you sit and you don’t do anything and you listen and you’re quiet, you forget how to be a regular person like the rest of us. And you become this political entity, this class of people that live in our capitol cities and in our nations capitol because they’ve come up through this pipeline of politics where to get anywhere you have to sit on your hands, bide your time, wait for your opportunity… Donald Trump is the opposite of that. He is the anti-politician, and the reason it resonates with people is not because he’s an eloquent speaker […] but he says what he’s thinking, and that’s refreshing.”
Henry acknowledged he has heard concerns about Trump’s faith among Alabama’s large bloc of evangelical voters. The real estate mogul raised eyebrows at a candidate forum when he responded to a question about whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness by saying, “I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture.”
Henry said Trump “doesn’t necessarily have the same relationship with Christ that (he does),” but does not believe he needs to.
“My relationship with Jesus Christ is personal but I don’t necessarily need him to have my relationship,” he said. “I need him to have a relationship (with God), and he does. He says he does and that’s all I can take him on. But I know God can use anybody, anywhere, anytime for His purpose and His will.”
In spite of evangelicals’ concerns with Trump’s faith — or lack thereof — he continues to maintain a large lead in the handful of Alabama polls that have been made public.
In addition to hard data, Henry said there is anecdotal evidence that Trump’s candidacy is resonating in unique ways.
“I’ll tell you a quick little story,” he told the crowd at Logan’s Roadhouse in Florence. “I went to the wrong Logan’s. I wasn’t paying attention to what my GPS was saying. I was talking on the phone and saw a Logan’s and thought ‘Well, that ought be it.’ So I pulled in, got out, had an arm full of Trump t-shirts and bumper stickers. And I go in and go to the little lady standing out front and I said ‘Republican Party?’ And they looked at me like I had three heads. And I said ‘Wrong Logan’s’, and she said ‘Yeah, you probably want the one in Florence.’ And she started telling me where it was and I said ‘Oh, thank you very much, would you like a t-shirt?’ And I gave her a t-shirt and it became a feeding frenzy of people in Logan’s wanting a Trump t-shirt. I promise you, I have never seen anything like this in my entire life where regular, everyday individuals are excited about an opportunity to take back our country and that’s what we’re looking at.”
Henry then summed up his reason for supporting Trump by making an unexpected pop culture reference.
“I want a leader,” he concluded. “I want a President that’s more like John Wayne than Justin Bieber.”
