HOOVER, Ala. — On it’s way to the battleground state of Florida, Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump’s campaign bus took a pit-stop in Hoover, Ala. to host a small scale rally for local supporters.
In attendance were some of Alabama’s biggest Republican heavy-hitters, including state party chairwoman Terry Lathan, U.S. Congressman Robert Aderholt, and Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker.
Trump’s bus has traveled the country in an effort to help energize the Republican voting base. State Rep. Jim Carns (R-Birmingham) told WBRC,”We have to keep everything energized. If you stop hard in the fourth quarter you lose a lot of umph for the next game.”
Pollsters and those in the media have questioned the level in which the GOP’s base is excited for the nominee, but Lathan and Aderholt believe that Trump is the man that the people want to defeat Hillary Clinton to become President of the United States.
“By far Mr. Trump was way ahead in the [primary] vote,” Lathan said in an interview with WBRC. “So that simply says to me people have tapped us on the shoulder and said we prefer Donald Trump.”
Aderholt stated that he thinks Trump could actually grow the Republican’s electorate. “There are people coming out to vote who don’t vote in most elections,” he said at the bus stop. “I think they have been underestimated. I think people are going to be surprised on Election Day.”
Justice Parker was definitely excited about the Trump candidacy, and he specifically emphasized the importance of the U.S. Supreme Court in this election.
“The court system has been headed downhill,” he told WBRC. “It has lost the basis of the rule of law. It has forsaken the constitution.”
After the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court has been operating with only eight justices. President Obama’s appointee, Judge Merrick Garland, has been effectively stymied by the Republican Senate.
The next president will have the ability to appoint at least one justice to the court.
