In stupid things we cannot directly blame the impending Trump Administration for, a city official in Mobile, Alabama is apologizing after he ordered a 50-foot-tall old-growth tree in a city park chopped down and transported to a Trump victory rally. There, in a sort of tree version of Hell, it was used as a Christmas tree and positioned directly behind Trump.
The Mobile rally was the last one in Trump’s self-congratulatory “Thank You Tour.” As such, expectations were high, and trees were killed.
Colby Cooper is Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s chief of staff; he is very sorry about killing that extremely old tree for no reason, AL.com reports:
Colby Cooper, who has been Stimpson’s chief of staff since 2013, said he became “overzealous” in making sure “every detail was covered and the expectations” of Trump’s team were exceeded ahead of Saturday’s televised rally.
“I now know that there are citizens who are upset and offended that a tree from a city park was used as part of the decorations for the event,” Cooper said in a statement sent out to the local media. “I accept full responsibility for having this done. For this, I sincerely apologize. Going forward, I will be more sensitive to the spectrum of concerns regarding trees.”
(I am very sorry to do this, but doesn’t “the spectrum of concerns regarding trees” sound a little... like... shade?)
In any case, the rally was, as the New York Times reported, true to form, decoratively speaking, with the tree playing a major role:
This final thank you rally was full of Trumpian splendor: a 50-foot Christmas tree topped the stadium, with a podium flanked by red poinsettias and more Christmas trees that proclaimed “Merry Christmas USA,” making good on one of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises that the country will “say Merry Christmas again,” as a three-piece country band played Southern rock classics.
Trump also kept to the theme of Christmas by promising to keep people of Middle Eastern descent away from him.
The city is promising the now-dead tree will be “repurposed.” As mulch, presumably.