COLUMN: 'The Second Coming Of President Donald Trump'

*This is an opinion column*

'And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?'

- William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

TUSCALOOSA, AL — I complained every other breath trying to get comfortable with my laptop and twisted in my stadium seat inside Coleman Coliseum Thursday night ahead of President Donald Trump's commencement address at the University of Alabama.

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Despite the overstimulation from the organized chaos unfolding around me and the heavy thumping of the bass speakers, I couldn't help but remember former Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks and how his words four years ago would prove so prophetic.

Brooks and I have a colorful history, whether he realizes it or not, especially after I was the first reporter in America to break news of his 2022 Senate run following one of his visits to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Cottondale. I was a part-time bartender for the post on a night when I was asked to run the sound board for a BamaCarry meeting where Brooks was the keynote speaker.

Those guys shouted him down at every turn and, keep in mind, this was little more than two months after he exclaimed "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass" on Jan. 6, 2021, during that fateful rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.

Apart from all that, Brooks also once skunked me in a game of ping-pong at Bowlero in Tuscaloosa in front of a dozen or so people I didn't know. It was arguably the only win for Brooks that election season as he campaigned in my hometown for his midterm Republican primary race against eventual winner and current Alabama junior senator, Katie Britt.

By that point, he was on the outs with Mar-a-Lago as he leaned on a pool table in Tuscaloosa and lamented the news that the former president had given his endorsement to Britt.

Brooks had outlived his usefulness to the MAGA cause and was now out in the cold.

And I really hadn't thought about him since.

But on Thursday, as fresh-faced University of Alabama graduates clad in their caps and gowns filed down the steps to the floor seating in Coleman Coliseum, I was transported back to Cullman in August 2021 — grumbling under my breath about my mud-caked sneakers as I sat in an aluminum folding chair in the Republican VIP section when Trump held what I thought was little more than an inconsequential rally in some remote pasture.

After all, former President Trump had been voted out of office and such a stiff rebuke typically shatters any future political ambitions in most.

ALSO READ: 'Trumpstock' In Alabama: 3 Hours Of Mud, Fury & Populism

Donald J. Trump is not your typical politician, though. It's almost become cliché to even point it out and his brand, for better or worse, is the dominant force in American politics at present.

Thanks to the generosity of a friend who let me tag along, I was at the Cullman rally to write a longform story but after the three hours of hard-right partisan talking points I heard that night, I'll never forget Brooks — the presumed favorite for Trump's endorsement for the Senate seat vacated by longtime Republican Sen. Richard Shelby.

Before Brooks was nearly booed off stage in his home state for telling those gathered that they needed to move on from the baseless dispute over the results of the 2020 presidential election, he introduced the jilted former president by shouting:

"I'm pleased to announce the Second Coming of President Donald Trump."

What a scene.

And the crowd erupted.

Rolling my eyes, such a comparison to Jesus Christ's End Times return in the book of Revelation gave me a good chuckle but I do have a soft-spot for tacky political showmanship, so I didn't think much of it at the time and wrote it off as empty bluster from a man desperate for Trump's favor.

I couldn't help but cackle harder, too, when Brooks got on the wrong side of the 30,000 or so frothing folks in that late summer heat as he looked to Trump to save him from the shouting mob.

And like a Roman emperor with the power to give a thumbs up or down, the former president made easy work of the situation with his unrivaled command of the microphone and his audience.

He may have spared Brooks' skin that night but the loyal congressman's political fate was pretty much sealed then and there — buried in the ash heap with familiar names like Jeff Sessions.

And keep in mind, dear reader, this same crowd at the height of the pandemic booed Trump for opening his Cullman rally by encouraging them to get the COVID-19 vaccine his own administration fast-tracked.

To this day, the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed is credited with saving countless lives during the pandemic. It was a master class of cutting bureaucratic red tape to get people vaccinated as hospital ICUs filled to capacity and was arguably the most effective single policy to address the pandemic.

Oh how quickly people forget.

True to form, Trump brushed off the shouts of dissent like he'd smelled a fart and never lost a step as he barreled into his myriad grievances with the Biden administration and the political left.

He was on the campaign trail and this was a universe away from his comparatively buttoned-down commencement speech and a brief set of his greatest hits in Coleman Coliseum on Thursday.

Still, the way that man can work and control a massive crowd is truly something to behold in person, whether it inspires or scares the piss out of you.

I still have a picture on my phone of one attendee giving Congressman Brooks the middle finger and it was a night I'll never forget. But there's a reason for this long-winded anecdote.

Four years later, as I waited for former Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban to introduce the 47th president to graduates and a large crowd at my alma mater, I had to admit to myself that Mo Brooks saw what was coming well before I did.

This brings me to the latest chapter in my years-long journey to better understand Donald Trump's appeal in the place I call home — a place that might as well be the moon for a New York City real estate tycoon and television personality like President Trump.

It's a sincere, open-minded mission and while I'm human and certainly have my beliefs, I'm not a political animal and have spent my entire adult life obsessively trying to stay between the lines when reporting on politics ... even in my opinion columns, as strange as that may sound.

I also love my community and, in essence, my hometown's response to Thursday's events is the overarching theme of this longform column.

MY HOMETOWN

It's funny, the little things you notice in your hometown once you've stuck around long enough to pay attention to the tiny details.

I lived the first 20 years of my life in Tuscaloosa County before running away from home to chase my dreams and can't recall ever seeing a billboard for an elected official at any level who wasn't running for re-election.

As I drove to campus Thursday, I passed a double-sided sign on Highway 43 in Northport that praises President Trump and reads "Doing more for ALL AMERICANS than any other president."

Once I made my way across the river and onto 15th Street — one of the final legs of the route President Trump's massive motorcade took a couple of hours later — I noticed the aged sign demanding the United States pull out of the United Nations.

It's been there as long as I can remember so I guess they've at least been consistent in their position, if nothing else.

Tuscaloosa City Council President Kip Tyner voiced his excitement on social media ahead of the event and mentioned the support the president could expect to receive on campus.

"A unexpected sight just now on Bryant Drive, at least 100 students wearing their caps and gowns, wearing and waving Trump flags on their way to the Coliseum," he said on Facebook. "While some protest — others rejoice! It’s called America."

Indeed.

Tyner, who prides himself on being an independent political maverick, told me following the rally that he can't recall any political figure who’s more loved, and at the same time, more loathed than President Trump.

"I have friends here and even in Washington State and Montana who passionately love the man because they love that he has no filter and does not follow the rules of political correctness while others hate him for those same reasons," Tyner told me. "All three times he’s run, he’s carried Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County so he’s obviously liked by the majority of the electorate here."

Tyner went on to say that he recently heard some callers on a local sports talk show express how much they love the fact that President Trump was such a vocal Alabama football fan.

Indeed, Trump is the only sitting president to attend an Alabama football game in Bryant-Denny Stadium, which he did in 2019 for the Crimson Tide's matchup with LSU.

He also attended the Crimson Tide's win over Georgia last year in the first major victory of the Kalen DeBoer Era. Never mind that critics said he made this visit as a campaign stop aimed at taking advantage of Georgia voters tuning into the nationally televised game just weeks before Trump won the toss-up state he'd lost in 2020.

"And of course, he’s very public about loving Alabama as a state," Tyner said. "Remember his first major rally in 2016? He drew over 90,000 in Mobile. There will never be another like him, to which many say 'Thank God,' while other supporters, like a man I spoke with today, said he hopes he’ll be back for another football game this fall."

Despite what anyone might say about the left-wing element at the University of Alabama or every local conservative's favorite boogeyman, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, Tuscaloosa County is very much Trump Country.

Hell, say what you want about the man, but I was on the Boozy Spirits Podcast recently with the nonpartisan mayor and former Democratic gubernatorial nominee when he told me he welcomed President Trump's approach to downsizing a bloated bureaucratic system.

So despite the City of Tuscaloosa being the most progressive local elected body in a deep-red county, it's not exactly eat-up with a bunch of "woke" radical socialists.

Still, Maddox voiced his concerns for the future of America's democratic system when pondering what a post-Donald Trump political climate might look like, especially given the push to secure more executive authority for the president than ever before.

While some fear that this would grease the slope toward an authoritarian dictatorship in the United States, supporters counter that expanded executive authority would allow the president to cut through bureaucratic red tape and deliver on promises made to the voters.

And to his credit, for better or worse, Trump has done or tried to do everything he said he would, so when people say this is what they voted for, it's pretty clear why.

At its core, though, Maddox said it's all about how much power you think the country's chief executive should wield.

"If you're on the Republican side, you view this as a good thing, as you normally would," Maddox said. "But that pendulum is going to switch and that means in four or eight years, you're going to have a Democratic president and they are going to feel empowered to have that same kind of executive authority and it won't be so good [for Republicans] then."

Maddox's perspective on President Trump is a great place to start when considering his track record of working with elected leaders of both major parties and with the evolution in politics he's witnessed over his career.

He's also the only elected official I've covered in Tuscaloosa who has been accused of being a closet member of both major parties over local issues that have absolutely nothing to do with partisan politics.

"I do think Donald Trump is somebody who is going to be hard to be replicated in the future," Maddox told me in February. "I remember being in elementary school and knowing who Donald Trump was. He's been a part of the American psyche for 40 years-plus in his life. He's bigger than life.

"He was a cultural phenomenon before he ever ran for office," he added. "His sins were known before he ever ran for office. Where the politicians got Donald Trump wrong is they treated him as if he became a politician. He's never been a politician. The question then becomes 'can someone else rise to that level like Donald Trump?'"

Maddox believes it would be difficult, if not outright impossible.

"I don't think [Vice President] JD Vance can do or say the things that Donald Trump does," he said. "I don't think there's a Democrat out there that can do or say what Donald Trump does because they don't have the cultural buy-in. ... His authenticity is his biggest advantage."

Indeed, this was on display Thursday night in Coleman Coliseum as President Trump elicited roars of laughter and applause from the audience every time he went off script.

Objectively speaking, the tone of the commencement speech was an interesting departure from the president's normal brash approach to campaign rallies, although not completely absent of a little braggadocio.

But let's be honest, everyone in attendance was there to hear him freestyle, not read off a teleprompter.

"You have to break the system a little bit and follow your own instincts," Trump said. "But if your vision is right, nothing will hold you down — nothing. If you look at some of these 'internet people,' I know so many of them, Elon [Musk] is terrific. But I know, now, all of them hated me in my first term and now they're kissing my ass."

I'll be the first to admit I laughed when he referred to billionaire technocrats as "internet people," so maybe I was finally onto something.

STATESMAN NICK SABAN?

While news of President Trump coming to Tuscaloosa dominated the headlines, arguably the biggest surprise for our community came when it was revealed that legendary former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban would be the man to introduce the 47th president to graduates and others at a special commencement event in Coleman Coliseum.

Like myself, Coach Saban doesn't appear to be much of a political animal — at least not until lately or when compared to more politically vocal sports figures in Alabama like Bruce Pearl and Hugh Freeze at Auburn.

Instead, he seems to be more a man of conviction, especially when it came to his teams.

Considering he was all smiles when introducing President Trump, it can be easy to forget the image of Coach Saban walking at the front of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) march on the UA campus on April 30, 2020, which was organized by the Tide's star running back, Najee Harris.

Trump remains a vocal opponent of the BLM movement, so the two moments in local history stand in interesting contrast while possibly highlighting Coach Saban's deep-seated sense of duty.

If the president asks you to visit the White House, you visit the White House. If the president asks you to introduce him, you introduce him.

It's an attitude of respect that was much more prevalent among Americans in years past — like Johnny Cash agreeing to play the White House when invited by Richard Nixon, despite being opposed to the war in Vietnam.

But with the current divisions, it's becoming more commonplace to hear of athletes or prominent figures snubbing an invitation from the highest office in the land to make a political statement, whether it be Joe Biden, Donald Trump or whoever left hanging.

A childhood friend of longtime U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and long-believed by many to be some kind of closet Democrat, Coach Saban has earned great standing across the aisle in Washington, D.C. and over multiple presidential administrations.

He's visited the White House with presidents from both political parties and seems to genuinely respect the office, regardless of who occupies it.

Still, Coach Saban lit up with a big smile Thursday when he told a story from his team's 2017 visit to the White House during Trump's first term — a visit where the team was famously served a large spread from McDonald's.

Coach Saban said of the visit that it was the first time one of his national title teams was invited into the Oval Office, before telling how the players were curious about this "big auspicious box" on the Resolute desk.

"One of the players said "is that what you launch the missiles with? And [Trump] said 'push it and find out,'" Saban said. "[Tide linebacker Rashaan Evans] finally got the guts up, pushed the button and some lady came in with a Coke on a tray."

While we may never know Saban's exact political beliefs, the iconic coach was no doubt charmed by the conservative firebrand.

Coach Saban undoubtedly could have turned down the offer to speak, if indeed it happened that way, and we in the public would've been none the wiser. Apart from Miss Terry, I'm not sure of anyone else in creation capable of telling Nick Saban what he is going to do.

He could have knocked around his palatial mansion in Jupiter Beach, Florida or played golf at some exclusive resort with Pat McAfee but chose to introduce the president and deliver a brief commencement address wholly devoid of political rhetoric.

For what it's worth, though, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that President Trump met with Coach Saban Thursday to discuss an executive order aimed at increasing scrutiny of payments to college athletes in the Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) era, with Coach Saban reportedly telling the president that the massive influx of outside money is hurting college sports in a profound way.

Coach Saban has been a vocal critic of NIL, along with Alabama's senior U.S. senator and potential future governor, former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville.

Nevertheless, despite the roars of applause in Coleman Coliseum Thursday, Coach Saban's participation in the event came as something of a shock to many in the UA community.

"It’s deeply disappointing," West Alabama Young Democrats Vice President of Operations Ke’Undra Cox told me Thursday evening. "After watching Coach Saban lead a Black Lives Matter march in 2020, I never expected him to stand behind someone with a well-documented history of racism."

THE OPPOSITION

The rain was beginning to fall in fat droplets at the Million Dollar Band's outdoor practice field as a protestor came up to me and demanded to see my press credentials.

While I'm obligated to identify myself as a reporter when asked, it's a matter of taste and personal safety that I refuse to wear a press pass unless I have to. In this political climate, a press badge dangling around your neck might as well be a target and I prefer to keep a low profile.

Following the event in nearby Coleman Coliseum, I tossed my press pass lanyard around my rear view mirror and set out for home right before I saw the sign-wielding protestors gathered and chanting under the lights.

Due to the various logistical requirements of President Trump's speech that night and the fact I can't physically be in two places at once, this was a great opportunity considering I'd been unable to cover the two separate demonstrations held in response to the special commencement ceremony.

This included a protest and march to campus from Government Plaza in downtown Tuscaloosa and a "Tide Against Trump Rally" in Snow Hinton Park that was attended by hundreds and featured prominent Democrats like former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama.

Mark Hughes Cobb of the Tuscaloosa News wrote a detailed report about the Snow Hinton Park demonstration Thursday evening and penned that O'Rourke, once a Democratic presidential hopeful, said President Trump poses a threat at all levels — from the individual to the entire country.

"They're stunned, or they're waiting, or they're hoping some cavalry is going to ride to the rescue, or they're anticipating orders from headquarters, or Washington, D.C.," O'Rourke said. "But the students at the University of Alabama took action themselves, the future into their own hands, and they brought us together, and that's the leadership that we need right now."

But as I tried to gather perspective from the demonstrators on the band practice field several hours later, it was clear that my presence was of serious concern to some.

Maybe it was my cowboy boots and camo hat that made them suspicious but whatever it was, I was going to have to work for a quote and wasn't leaving without one.

I finally said to hell with my sunny disposition, pulled up my social media pages on my phone and explained repeatedly that I was an independent local reporter simply looking for perspectives.

I'd spent my morning in court covering a murder case and had to skip lunch to write that story. The lines on my face were visible, my eyes were bloodshot and I was running on little more than a granola bar, nicotine and Coleman Coliseum sink water ... but that's another story.

Nevertheless, the air outside the coliseum for this reporter was much thicker with tension than it was inside. Something I hadn't expected at the beginning of the night.

Folks were on edge and, honestly, I can't say I blame them considering the current political climate and having some strange bearded hillbilly saunter up and start asking questions about their politics.

"To put it shortly, Trump brought me out here," UA student Omarose Emwanta told me. "I would have loved to have been at the speech and walked out but I was here all day. I'm so grateful for the turnout, even though any time someone shows up and gets off the couch and comes out, it's great. To see other organizations band together was heartwarming. It gives me hope that people still care."

She said these organizations included UA Students for Justice, the UA Leftist Collective, Friends of the Union and 50501, which handled the march.

Despite various pockets of protest on campus, which also included numerous students and faculty saying they reserved seats for the ticketed event and didn't attend just so the seats would be empty, the frustrations around Trump's visit also extended to more established social-issue advocates in the community.

Advocates like Lisa Young, president of the Tuscaloosa County Branch of the NAACP.

"I believe in the constitutional right to freedom of speech, even for those whose views differ from mine," Young told Patch following the event. "While I don't support President Trump's ideology, I respect his right to speak. Personally, I'd prefer we not focus on his presence, but instead channel that energy into strategic planning — pushing for policy reform, boosting voter engagement and supporting candidates who truly represent marginalized communities. Future rallies and protests should not end with signs and chants; they must include follow-up, action plans, and sustained efforts that lead to measurable change. That's where real power lives — in action, not outrage."

THE FUTURE

Given that President Trump's remarks were delivered at a special commencement ceremony, it should come as little surprise that he spoke at length about the generation of bright-eyed scholars gathered around him.

Indeed, Trump told the graduates that they have the chance to be the "greatest generation" in the history of the United States.

"You learned a lot about winning here at Alabama and now we need you to help win for America," he said. "For the business majors here today, I challenge you to not merely to use your talents for financial speculation but to apply your great skills that you've learned and had to forge the steel and pour the concrete of new American factories, plants, shipyards and even cities that are going up all over our country. Don't just build a strong portfolio, build a strong America."

West Alabama Young Democrats Vice President of Operations Ke’Undra Cox attended the Tide Against Trump Rally and said he didn't want to waste his time at Coleman Coliseum "feeding Trump's ego trip."

Cox is among the most politically involved young people in our community and, regardless of where you stand, he should be commended for his commitment to putting his beliefs into real action at a time when most political discourse is crude, intentionally mean-spirited and mostly limited to useless bickering on social media.

And despite Cox saying that the demonstration in Snow Hinton Park displayed the best of what Alabama has to offer — unity, courage and a commitment to progress — he said the visit by President Trump was in no way a win for the university or the city.

"First, he wasn’t invited; he invited himself," Cox insisted. "Second, he lost the UA campus in the 2024 election. And third, a respected institution like the University of Alabama should never associate itself with someone who openly defies the very values it claims to uphold — and Donald Trump stands in direct opposition to every single one of them."

Cox said he hopes the community can quickly move on from this visit before lamenting that it brought no meaningful benefit to the campus or the surrounding area.

"It didn’t unite us," he said. "It didn’t inspire us. It only served to inflate Donald Trump’s ego. But as history often shows, even the most-forgettable events can leave behind lasting conversations."

He then mentioned President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 visit to Tuscaloosa, which represented the first time a sitting president came to the Capstone.

ALSO READ: A Look Back To When Ronald Reagan Came To Tuscaloosa

Cox pondered the possibility that memories from the event on Thursday may live on — not because it was impactful but because of the questions it might raise in the years to come.

"Twenty or 30 years from now, students might come across this day in a history textbook or stumble upon a photo in a campus archive," he said. "And when they do, I believe they’ll ask: 'How did this happen? How did we allow someone with a legacy of division, bigotry, and authoritarianism to return to the national stage — and be welcomed at our institutions?'

"That, to me, is the real lesson," Cox added. "This visit may pass, but what we choose to stand for — or stand against — will echo far beyond it. And I hope future generations look back and know that some of us spoke up."

Similar to Cox, in a way, Brilyn Hollyhand is one of the most politically active individuals of any age in Tuscaloosa. Never mind that he's about to graduate from Tuscaloosa Academy and has already built an incredibly influential conservative brand by going on speaking tours, appearing on network news programs and even authoring a book, "One Generation Away."

Regardless of your political leanings — and like Ke’Undra Cox — Hollyhand deserves to be respected in his hometown for his plucky and fearless attitude that has turned him into a rising superstar in Young Republican circles.

Hollyhand, who plans to attend Auburn University this fall and major in, of all things, political science, told Patch that he's met President Trump multiple times and was the last person to speak to the commander-in-chief backstage before he was introduced by Coach Saban.

"I got about five or seven minutes with him," Hollyhand said. "It was the fifth time I'd met him and definitely the coolest. Obviously, the president being in my hometown is just super cool and the honor of a lifetime. It was a blessing, for sure."

Hollyhand said President Trump had apparently watched his most recent segment on Maria Bartiromo's show on Fox News and told the emerging conservative influencer that he was "killing it."

"He had been watching, thankfully, and he turned to his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and said 'this guy is killing it. Do you ever get nervous on there?' And I said 'I’m nervous now.'"

While he may just now be gearing up to graduate high school, Hollyhand is a well-polished media personality who has been one of the most-vocal supporters of the president among those of his generation — a key demographic that both President Trump and Hollyhand insisted this week played a crucial role in the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

"The economy is what got so many young people out to vote," he told me. "When I said it at a donor event, I said 'we have to be really strong on our economic policies because everybody is hurting in their pocketbooks.' Folks might hear that and not believe it but when you look at the people who are voting — high school seniors or actual college students — many are actually financially independent for the first time in their lives and they are being attacked by Biden’s economy."

During a recent speaking tour of 27 college campuses, Hollyhand said what started as a small handful of the same people eventually grew into a legitimate political movement, with young people coming to meetings and actively participating in discussions.

"When we asked them what inspired them to come to their first political meeting, so many said they couldn't sit on the sidelines any longer due to their frustrations with the economy, " he said. "Specifically talking about my generation, in our meeting [President Trump] said 'your generation has the chance to be the greatest generation,' which was something he also told the graduates during his speech."

If this column were a book report or a grade-school essay, this would probably be the part where I give my watered-down final conclusions and bid you good-bye.

But while I've expended so much journalistic real estate on this column and have reported on so many of these topics for years, I still feel I've barely scratched the surface trying to make sense of how our nation found itself at such a strange moment.

So, let's not try to solve the nation's problems based on my reporting and simple view of the world.

To borrow a verse from Southern rock icons Drive-By Truckers, "there's just two sides calling names out of anger, out of fear."

Instead, my biggest takeaway is the fearless passion I saw on display from both sides, particularly the young people I can no longer count myself among.

This is what gives me hope, though: the simple fact that a generation we have so often belittled as lazy, entitled and socially warped suddenly doesn't seem to be taking things for granted and are demanding that their voices be heard.

In this toxic age of social media and faceless hatred in political discourse, isn't this what we should want to see?

I could care less which side of the political fence you claim. The reality is that our nagging and uniquely American problems have rocked on long enough, the kids are pissed and they're doing something about it.

That has to make you proud.

To this reporter, who has covered politics at all levels for over a decade, it's encouraging when considering the health of our democracy and how both sides can make their voices heard in the public square without fear of suppression. And while that attitude might vary from city to city, I'm thankful my hometown is so accommodating to such a wide spectrum of thought.

Contrary to what bad-faith foreign bots on social media might tell you about whoever is on the other side of the political fence, it's so insanely important that we have these discussions face-to-face and view each other as people instead of profile pictures.

And if it takes outspoken young people of all stripes and "The Second Coming of President Donald Trump" to show us the power of our own voices, then I'll gladly support it.

Ryan Phillips is an award-winning journalist, editor and opinion columnist. He is also the founder and field editor of Tuscaloosa Patch. The views expressed in this column are his own and in no way a reflection of our parent company or sponsors. Contact him at ryan.phillips@patch.com