Many observers wondered why President Donald Trump would hold a rally in deep-red Alabama a month before the midterms. Former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) says the timing gave it away.
Jones, now the Democratic nominee for Alabama governor, appeared on MS NOW's "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" on Friday night. Psaki pointed out that Trump won Alabama by 30 points in 2024 and has carried the Mobile-area district by about 40. Jones said the trip had nothing to do with the midterms.
"It tells me he's campaigning, but he's not campaigning for the midterms," Jones said. "He's campaigning for a vanity project to have his name on the bridge."
He noted that the rally fell on the same day as the bridge's groundbreaking.
"He could not resist the chance on the same day as the groundbreaking," Jones said. "That was no coincidence, Jen. It was no coincidence at all."
Jones said Trump "had virtually nothing to do with" the bridge. He added that the Republicans now trying to put Trump's name on it didn't back the funding.
"The interesting thing is the congressman who proposed his name, he didn't vote for it, and neither did Tommy Tuberville," Jones said. "But they all want to name it after Donald J. Trump."
Psaki noted that most of the bridge money came from former President Joe Biden's infrastructure law.
Jones also said that Trump's support is collapsing in the state.
"His numbers have sunk like a rock in Alabama," he said, adding that Tuberville, his Republican opponent, "is in deep trouble."