This past Saturday, President Donald Trump finally got the sports game cheers he was looking for when he went to a college football game between the teams from the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University. There were still protesters gathered outside the game, who one hyped up Trump supporter confronted by popping the baby Trump balloon they’d brought. That critical balloon imagery first popped up when Trump visited London, and it’s since appeared at numerous demonstrations. The man who popped this balloon — Hoyt Hutchinson — was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, and in classic Trump supporter “I didn’t think this through” fashion, he started a GoFundMe page to help with his legal bills.
He posted a video to Facebook describing his intentions before actually heading out to the protest site. Hutchinson attempted to cast the balloon popping stunt as some kind of feat of righteous anger or something. Apparently he hopes that we take someone seriously who — as an adult human being — gets so heated at the mere existence of a balloon they just have to go pop it.
In his video, he railed:
‘I don’t know how many of y’all Republicans out there got some balls about yourself, but they got that baby Trump balloon down here on campus right now, and I’m going down here to make a scene. So y’all watch the news. If ya got any balls come join me. This is pathetic; I’m fixing to get rowdy. I’m shaking I’m so mad right now. I’m fixing to pop this balloon, without a doubt. Stay tuned. Should be interesting.’
The man (Hoyt Hutchinson) that stabbed the #BabyTrumpBalloon posted a Facebook Live video incriminating himself in a felony crime. 🤦♀️ What a shameful act to occur in the midst of a peaceful protest. Thank you to the @TuscaloosaPD for your quick action & arrest. #LSUvsAlabama pic.twitter.com/JJUkxeJxPB
— Deb M. (@AUdebm) November 9, 2019
Well, that “interesting” afternoon turned into an arrest. Local media report that Hutchinson was “screaming at the organizers of the Donald Trump protest as police led him, handcuffed, into the back of a squad car.” How valiant. (Not.)
Hutchinson’s GoFundMe page actually surpassed its goal as of early Sunday. The goal had been set at $6,000, and it had $20,406 and counting from almost eight hundred different donors.
The campaign’s call to action actually continued the desperate egomania that Hutchinson started in his original video:
‘Help raise money to pay legal fees and restitutions for Hoyt. He was charged with a felony criminal mischief after deflation of the disrespectful baby trump balloon. Hoyt made sure our beloved president didn’t have to see this disrespectful balloon on the streets of Ttown today!!’
The platform’s terms of service actually explicitly prohibit “the legal defense of alleged crimes associated with hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation,” and one Twitter user said that they’d received an email from GoFundMe stating the company was “investigating” the campaign.
If interested in filing a complaint with GOFUNDME against his fundraising account use this form:
⬇️https://t.co/7JRVd8Mw55Link for his account is needed.
⬇️https://t.co/xYzEmOSVhQI’ve received an email from GoFundMe stating that they are investigating. 🤞🏼
4/4 #BabyTrump pic.twitter.com/8flrzze4MI— Deb M. (@AUdebm) November 10, 2019
Trump and his supporters have plenty of reasons to worry lately. This week, House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry will be having their first public hearings. Witnesses will include former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor, and State Department official George Kent. The bulk of testimony that’s already been delivered has backed up the details in an original whistleblower’s complaint about Trump seeking to get dirt on the Bidens from Ukraine.
