Former President Donald Trump attended Saturday’s USC-Clemson football game as he and thousands of fans encountered seven electronic billboards around Columbia highlighting an anti-Trump message: “You lost. You’re guilty. Welcome to Columbia, Donald.”
Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination, lost the 2020 election but has claimed it was stolen from him. He also currently faces 91 felony charges in four criminal cases ranging from allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, falsifying business records, obstructing justice, mishandling classified information and more.
The billboards, which also say “Sponsored by League of Radical Leftist Vermin, Jay Bender instigator,” referenced a comment Trump made in a New Hampshire speech on Veterans Day to root out “radical left thugs that live like vermin.” The speech raised new fears about the authoritarian leanings of the former president, echoing the language of leaders who rose to power in Germany and Italy in the 1930s.
Bender, a longtime Columbia media law attorney who has advised newspapers across the state, including the Charleston City Paper, said on Facebook that he believed “Donald Trump poses a serious threat to individual Americans and we need to be talking about that rather than the more abstract threat to democracy.”
Bender, who originally pitched the idea of similar messages on banners being flown by an airplane around Williams-Brice Stadium during the football game, set up a GoFundMe page to which people across the state donated. When that idea fizzled, he moved on to seven billboards, plus one in the Charlotte area, later writing on Facebook that he would pay for the electronic billboard campaign and get GoFundMe to refund donors’ money.
Meanwhile Saturday, Clemson beat South Carolina 16-7. At the game, the biggest sporting event in the state, Trump arrived to hear chants of “We want Trump!”
Recent polling showed Trump with support of 50% of state Republicans in the 2024 S.C. presidential primary, which is set for February. He’s far ahead of the next candidate seeking the GOP nomination, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley.
In other South Carolina news:
State Senate races underway ahead of 2024 election. While local municipal elections are now wrapping up, the state and federal election seasons are just getting started. And although candidate filing has not officially opened for any S.C. Statehouse seats, plenty of folks have already begun campaigning.
Charleston elects first Republican mayor since 1870s. Former GOP Rep. William Cogswell beat incumbent Mayor John Tecklenburg and said partisan politics took a back seat to “mutual love and respect” for the South Carolina city.
S.C.’s hurricane evacuation zones are changing. Starting next year, hurricane evacuations in South Carolina will be different, as local emergency management officials made changes to reflect the impact of recent hurricanes.
Flood maps show potential hazards in Charleston area. The maps by the Federal Emergency Management Agency indicate a large part of Charleston County is within either a coastal A zone or an inland V zone, which are both classified as high-risk flood zones.
S.C. job growth saw increase in October. The Palmetto State accounted for 4.1% of the 150,000 jobs created and added nationally last month with 6,100 new positions here.
Right whales return to Charleston waters. The first right whales were spotted at the Southeast calving ground this week, but environmental activists are still fighting for boat-slowing protections for the endangered animals. Even in Cape Cod, where speed-compliance rates are among the best on the East Coast, the whales are threatened.
Son of Colleton Co. clerk charged with wiretapping. The son of the embattled Colleton County clerk at the center of an attempt by convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been charged by the state with wiretapping.
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