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Man: Slashing ‘Baby Trump’ was matter of good versus evil

Published:Wednesday | November 13, 2019 | 12:43 AM
A responding officer and an unidentified man stand by a ‘Baby Trump‘ balloon deflated by Hoyt Hutchinson at Monnish Park as people were protesting US President Donald Trump’s visit to an NCAA college football game between Louisiana State and Alabama playing nearby in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Saturday, November 9, 2019.
A responding officer and an unidentified man stand by a ‘Baby Trump‘ balloon deflated by Hoyt Hutchinson at Monnish Park as people were protesting US President Donald Trump’s visit to an NCAA college football game between Louisiana State and Alabama playing nearby in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Saturday, November 9, 2019.

TUSCALOOSA (AP):

An Alabama man charged with criminal mischief in the slashing of a towering ‘Baby Trump’ balloon has defended his actions, saying it was a matter of good versus evil.

Al.com reports that Hoyt Deau Hutchinson called the syndicated radio programme ‘Rick & Bubba Show’ on Monday to describe what happened. Hutchinson said he was shaking in anger when he drove past the balloon and its handlers Saturday during United States (US) President Donald Trump’s visit to see Louisiana State play against the University of Alabama.

He yelled at the protesters but then realised that they might have seen him, so he bought a University of Alabama shirt to better blend into the crowd and get close to the balloon, he said. Pretending he wanted a picture with the balloon, Hutchinson said, he used a material cutter with a sharp razor to slice the symbol open.

The orange, diaper-clad caricature is often floated at Trump appearances to protest and mock the president, which the balloon shows clutching a cell phone. The balloon measures more than 20 feet (6.1m) tall and was left with an eight-foot-long (2.4m-long) gash in its backside.

“I get so mad about people not taking a stand,” he said. “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.”