Editor's note: This article contains explicit language.
TUSCALOOSA —A large crowd descended on Snow Hinton Park in Tuscaloosa on Thursday as part of the “Tide Against Trump” rally to protest President Donald Trump’s commencement speech at the University of Alabama just a few miles away.
The event was organized by the University of Alabama College Democrats and featured former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones and former U.S. Rep. Robert “Beto” O'Rourke, of Texas, as keynote speakers.
President of the UA Democrats Braden Vick spoke first by strongly condemning Trump’s commencement appearance, calling it a “self-congratulatory spectacle of shame.” He also slammed U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) for accompanying Trump to Tuscaloosa but praised former Alabama football coach Nick Saban for making a "good faith attempt" to make Trump "act like a president instead of a dictator."
"I take it no one likes Tommy Tuberville here. We should probably keep him out of the governor's mansion, no?" Vick said.
His speech was followed by several student speakers, a community organizer from Birmingham and UA professor Cassandra Simon, each with harsh words for the Trump administration, reflected on many of the protesters’ signs and slogans calling the president some form of fascist, tyrant or dictator.
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The general message of the evening was hate for Trump and encouragement to organize and fight back against perceived injustices related to school funding, “reproductive rights,” economic woes, LGBTQ issues and racial issues.
The crowd shouts "Tide again Trump," "Lock him up." pic.twitter.com/LudhKBdKMF
— Daniel Taylor (@danieltaylornow) May 1, 2025
“We are the last and the best hope for this country. Just as this country remains the last and the best hope for this earth. What we do right now, at this moment of truth for America, will forever define our future, our fate, and our fortune as a country. So, Alabama, no pressure. But we cannot fuck this one up,” O’Rourke said.
Jones echoed much of O’Rourke’s speech, likening the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the situation in modern-day America.
“I've been asked a lot about the president coming and the protest, I said, folks. I told the media every time. This is not a protest. This is a movement,” Jones said. “It is the movements that changed this country. Whether it was the Civil Rights Movement, whether it was the anti-war movement, it is the movements. And guess what, it started on college campuses.”
Dakarai Larriett, Kyle Sweetser and Mark Wheeler, U.S. Senate hopefuls running for Tuberville's seat, also spoke at the event.
Sweetser, a self-proclaimed Republican turned Democrat, encouraged the left-wing crowd to recruit moderates to their side.
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