“Baby Trump” met his demise in Alabama over the weekend. Not for the first time, though.
Who, some might ask, is Baby Trump?
According to Heavy.com, he’s an “iconic” balloon that is “widely known as a symbol to protest the President.” Evidently, not everybody is a fan of Baby Trump. And perhaps, just perhaps, a holy ghost haunts the latest news involving the big balloon. More on that in a moment.
First, though, let’s meet Hoyt Hutchinson. ABC News reports:
A few dozen people were gathered in Monnish Park protesting the president's visit to the Alabama-LSU football game a half-mile away and holding various anti-Trump signs when a disapproving man approached the helium-balloon with a knife and slashed an 8-foot-long gash in its back. There were still two hours to kickoff in the college town when "Baby Trump" quickly deflated out and the balloon-stabbing suspect attempted to flee the scene, organizers said.
Tuscaloosa police said in a statement that officers witnessed the incident which led them to arrest Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, 32, and charge him with felony first degree criminal mischief. He was booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail and held on a $2,500 bond. The slashing appears to have been premeditated as Hutchinson posted a Facebook Live video just hours before the incident saying he was "going down [there] to make a scene ... I'm shaking I'm so mad right now," he said. "I'm fixin’ to pop this balloon, without a doubt."
The Alabama Media Group adds more details to the story today, noting that the Baby Trump stabber gave a radio interview in which he cast his action as a case of “good vs. evil.”
“Seems like a ghost or two here,” said a reader who shared that link with GetReligion. “What church does he go to? What do they think?”
Here’s the lede from al.com:
Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, the Alabama man accused of slashing a Baby Trump balloon in Tuscaloosa last weekend, defended his actions during a Monday morning call to the “Rick & Bubba Show.”
Hutchinson is charged with felony first degree criminal mischief in relation to the slashing of the Trump balloon that was in town for the Alabama/LSU game and a presidential appearance by Donald Trump.
Later, the Alabama news organization notes:
When host Rick Burgess asked what his motivation for slashing the balloon, Hutchinson replied:
“I’m not young but I’m not old. I’m sort of middle aged. I feel like a lot of people my age don’t keep up with the news and politics the way they should. I watch the news every night. I watch Fox News every night. Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are my favorite two anchors.
"I see this stuff going on out west and up north and all other places. I get so mad about people not taking a stand. The left wants to use religion against you like you shouldn’t act like this and stuff but I’ll tell you this - the Devil knows the Bible as good as we do.”
“This was your turning of the temple tables?” Burgess asked in reference to the Biblical story of Jesus turning over the tables of the money changers in the temple.
“Yes,” Hutchinson replied. “It comes a point when you gotta take a stand. We don’t have two parties anymore. We have good vs. evil. When you got one party that says it’s OK to kill babies and by the way, this is the first time I’m ever seen a liberal get mad about chopping up a baby.”
Yep, that section of the story is drenched in holy ghosts and potential follow-up questions related to religion.
It would be interesting to know more about Hutchinson’s faith background: Does he consider himself a Christian? Where, if anywhere, does he worship? What are his basic beliefs? How do those beliefs inform his support of Trump?
And yes, as the reader suggested, I’d love to know if leaders at Hutchinson’s church, if he has one, endorse his role as Baby Trump balloon killer. Why or why not?