KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Ricky Bretherick, 50, sat alone as the sun rose outside Neyland Stadium, surrounded by serving trays of buffalo dip and sausage balls. He had arrived at 5:54 a.m., about six hours before kickoff.
The reason for the early start — and for delays for many other tailgaters — was President Donald Trump, whose visit brought tighter on-campus security and road closures surrounding the stadium.
But Bretherick, who voted for Trump, had concerns about the president that extended beyond his impact on tailgating.
“I don’t think he should have gone to war with Iran,” Bretherick said. “Especially since Trump said we weren’t going to do anything like that anymore.”
On the sidewalk opposite his setup, someone had scrawled “Dump Trump” in chalk.
Trump has been booed at several marquee sporting events this year as his party braces for a difficult midterm. In Knoxville, the reception was friendlier. When the president appeared on the stadium’s video board about 20 minutes into the game, the crowd largely cheered. In the parking lots, some fans who voted for him voiced misgivings about the Iran war and his manner. But the day, several said, was about football.
Before the president touched down in Knoxville, two shades of orange were already preparing to battle for dominance — the University of Texas and the University of Tennessee — before a 100,000-strong sold-out crowd. The first showdown since 1969 between the Texas Longhorns and the Tennessee Volunteers was one of the most anticipated games of the college football season. The presence of ESPN’s flagship college football show, “College GameDay,” on campus added to the excitement of fans prepared to see Peyton Manning’s alma mater face off against the Longhorns, for whom his nephew Arch Manning plays quarterback.
Having been asked to arrive early for increased security checks, fans were rewarded with half-price beers for their cooperation and packed the stadium an hour before kickoff.
Half an hour later, Trump’s arrival was announced thunderously with a low flyover of Air Force One. By 2:07 p.m., he had left the stadium, returning to McGhee Tyson Airport.
His attendance came amid warnings from advisers that the GOP is likely to lose control of one or both chambers of Congress in November’s elections. The president’s approval ratings have plummeted throughout the midterm election cycle. And, an increasing number of candidates, including in Republican strongholds, have distanced themselves from the president, criticizing the Iran war and calling for relief from high prices.
Trump and other Republicans have faced hostile crowds at big sporting events this year. In June, Trump, who attended the NBA Finals, was booed attending a New York Knicks-San Antonio Spurs game. In July, he received a similar reaction during the World Cup final. And two weeks ago, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was booed and heckled with calls of “Ted, you suck!” when he appeared on “College GameDay” in Austin.
But when Trump appeared on-screen 20 minutes into Saturday’s game, he was met largely with cheers. Shielded by glass, he was joined by Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee) and Marsha Blackburn, the Republican candidate for Tennessee’s governor. In this state, the governor’s and Senate races, alongside every House seat up for election, are marked as solidly Republican by the Cook Political Report.
Despite disapproving of the president’s war in Iran, and describing himself as more socially liberal than Trump, Bretherick would never boo the president.
“I respect the office,” he said.
However, season ticket holder and University of Tennessee graduate Henry Gertsen, 29, did boo.
“I’m definitely not a fan of Trump showing up,” said Gertsen, who is a transgender woman.
Gertsen has found Volunteers fans to be “overwhelmingly supportive” of her gender identity, she said, excluding a “few comments from drunk idiots.”
“I worry that, when a divisive figure like Trump turns up, that it could change the vibe,” Gertsen said before the game.
She had decided to make a “political statement” with her gameday outfit, dressing as a suffragette in Volunteer colors with a sash that read “Protect the dolls,” a reference within the LGBTQ+ community to trans women. In Tennessee, she said, her life is made difficult by laws limiting her ability to live as a trans woman, including the restriction of bathroom access to sex assigned at birth.
“With the outfit, I’m really trying to show that, even when one of the biggest haters of the trans community is showing up at our game, we are still here to protect each other,” said Gertsen, who attends Volunteers games with her dad. “We like to say: The Vols protect the dolls.”
Tailgating in the parking lot with fellow University of Tennessee alumni, Ricky Curtis, 55, pinned up his Trump-Vance 2024 election campaign flag at 5:15 a.m. It stood out among the more popular banners paying tribute to the late Dolly Parton.
He was excited when he heard that Trump would be attending the game and said he agrees with “just about everything the president does.”
The Iran war, he said, was a “long time coming,” and he likes that Trump protects the Second Amendment.
In the same lot, 25-year-old Sean Hannigan, a University of Tennessee student dressed in chinos and a Volunteer-orange polo, was similarly enthusiastic regarding the president’s visit.
“He’s done more good than bad, and people who don’t believe that are not as well informed as they should be,” Hannigan said.
He likes that Trump is “protecting American jobs in manufacturing”; his policies toward “foreign adversaries,” including Iran; and his antiabortion stance.
Most of his friends, he said, reacted with little more than “that’s cool” to the news of the president’s visit, more excited by the football about to be played than by Trump. Any politicization of Trump’s attendance was being “blown up by people on the left,” Hannigan said. He added: “He just loves sports. He cares about collegiate football.”
For Shonda Lewis, 58, and longtime friend Keely Ryan, 60, it’s an annual tradition to visit the Volunteers’ campus on game day together, whether they have tickets or not. On Saturday, an orange gingham tablecloth was laden with snacks, and two TVs had been set up to stream the game. Both women had voted for Trump and remained Republicans, but ahead of the midterms, they had criticisms of the president’s conduct.
“Is he our favorite person? I don’t agree with some of his social skills,” Ryan said.
While both women broadly approved of Trump’s policies, neither always appreciates Trump’s “says it how he sees it” approach in the presidential office.
“He’s a great president — except for his mouth,” said Lewis, who graduated from the university in the late 1980s.
But the day was “all about football,” she said, regardless of the president’s attendance.
“I don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican; I’m going to hang out with you if you like football,” Ryan said. “That’s my kind of people.”
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