Donald Trump received a warm welcome from fans in South Carolina as he took his seat at Williams-Brice Stadium for the school’s rivalry football matchup with Clemson.
The 5-6 Gamecocks are hosting the 7-4 Tigers in the conservative-leaning state that former US President Trump won in both 2016 and 2020. But while the bulk of voters in South Carolina are Republicans, USC happens to be in Richland county, which overwhelmingly voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
However, the fans in attendance at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night still appeared pleased to see him, with footage on social media showing Trump earning cheers as he takes his seat in the stands.
Trump was seen waving to the crowd before the Palmetto State rivalry game, where he is hoping to upstage his Republican opponent Nikki Haley on her home turf.
When he first arrived at the venue, the 77-year-old was greeted by chants of ‘We want Trump! We want Trump!’ from fans who gathered for the annual Palmetto Bowl, the state’s biggest sporting event of the year.
Donald Trump attended South Carolina’s rivalry matchup with Clemson on Saturday night
The former US President received a warm welcome in South Carolina – the conservative-leaning state that he won in both 2016 and 2020
Haley, a Clemson alumna and trustee who was twice elected South Carolina governor, did not attend.
Trump was a guest of Gov. Henry McMaster, Haley’s successor. The entourage, which entered through a veritable tunnel of Trump supporters on its way to a private suite, also included South Carolina’s senior U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, giving the former president a show of local political force at a game featuring Haley’s alma mater, Clemson, where she is also a member of the board of trustees.
Trump has made regular pilgrimages to college football games in recent years, attending an Iowa State game in September as well as several other SEC matchups, national championship games and Army-Navy battles during his only term in office.
As tens of thousands of Gamecock and Tiger fans gathered around the stadium on Saturday afternoon, more than a half-dozen electronic billboards around the capital city of Columbia boasted a message noting his 2020 election loss and his pending legal cases. ‘You lost. You’re guilty. Welcome to Columbia, Donald.’
Some vendors around the venue, meanwhile, hawked Trump-related merchandise, including ‘Trump 2020’ flags, from the previous election cycle.
The 5-6 Gamecocks are hosting the 7-4 Tigers in the conservative-leaning state that former US President Trump won in both 2016 and 2020
Trump comes from New York, an area known to prefer the NFL, and did not attend a college football powerhouse (his alma mater, Penn, is in sixth place in the Ivy League at 3-4).
However, he has embraced college football crowds in the South and Midwest, where he’s traditionally been received very well
And recently, the presumptive Republican candidate for 2024 got a standing ovation at UFC 295 in New York, where he appeared next to promoter Dana White, conservative media personality Tucker Calrson, and musician Kid Rock.
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