Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson — who spent more than a decade at the network before departing in 2016 — offered a pointed explanation for President Donald Trump's decision to spend a Friday night holding a rally in deep-red Alabama, arguing that the president is deliberately steering clear of states where he might face an unfriendly crowd. Alabama, which Trump won by double digits in 2016, 2020, and 2024, has not backed a Democratic presidential nominee since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

With just 32 days remaining until the midterm elections, Trump has favored appearances in Republican stronghold states over hotly contested swing districts and even formerly safe GOP districts — where Republican candidates could plausibly use a boost heading into Election Day. Midterm elections, held halfway through a president's four-year term, put every seat in the House of Representatives and dozens of governorships and other statewide offices on the ballot this year.

Carlson's assessment came during an appearance on CNN, where anchor Erin Burnett asked whether the president appears to know how sharply national polls have turned against him, and whether she believed the poor numbers might be overstated.

"I think the general sentiment is that the polls that are being done internally [at the White House] are worse than those that are external, so I would tend to believe them. But … it's unbelievable. I think, for Americans to try to comprehend that in just two short years, Trump took a silver platter that the American people gave him to run with this economy. And many people believe that he has run it into the ground, instead, in a short two-year time period. And why he's in Alabama tonight is because he's welcome in Alabama. There's a ton of red states where he might face boos right now. So that's why he's not going there to those places."

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Independent Veterans of America and previously the founder of the veterans advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Trump's Alabama visit offers no benefit to Republicans in competitive races anywhere, but argued it does serve a purpose of another kind: self-dealing propaganda.

"There are no known competitive races in Alabama. Does this help turnout anywhere else? No. But it helps perpetuate an image. He's in Alabama because he wants to be in Alabama. And Donald Trump does whatever he wants," Rieckhoff said. "… He's there because he wants a home field advantage. It is a big crowd. [Republican Sen.] Tommy Tuberville loves him and is one of his most loyal advocates. And he's setting the stage for what can be used for a content grab." Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach, has represented Alabama in the Senate since 2021.

"They're setting the stage and then they're running it into the propaganda machine, which is literally state funded," Rieckhoff continued. "They now have the vehicles of power to run whatever they want through a state funded, government funded propaganda. And that's really what this is. It becomes a self-perpetuating propaganda machine. Or in the military, they would call it a 'self-licking ice cream cone.' It just keeps itself going for its own purposes."

Echoing Carlson, Rieckhoff said most of the country does not currently like the president, adding that "especially in swing states, [Republican candidates] don't want him, but they want his money."