Brought up by Donald Trump during the recent presidential debate, the "MAGA hat" is one article of clothing most aligned with the Republican party and the political debate veteran. But wearers don it less as a fashion statement than alignment with a…
Brought up by Donald Trump during the recent presidential debate, the "MAGA hat" is one article of clothing most aligned with the Republican party and the political debate veteran. But wearers don it less as a fashion statement than alignment with a political positioning
During the rather amusing presidential debate last Tuesday evening (US, EST time), Donald Trump mentioned a head covering that has been adopted by his rabid supporters to set them visibly apart in any public gathering: the not-great cap, with the words 'Make America Great Again' on it. Responding to Ms Harris's plans for the economy, Mr Trump was adamant that "she is going to my policy now", adding, "I was going to send her a MAGA hat." Even Ms Harris thought that to be funny; she tossed her head back in laughter. For most of the one-hour-and-a-half debate, Mr Trump looked grumpy and gloomy. He offered the kind of crabbed hit-back that would not elicit even a smile on anyone's face (except, perhaps, his many "Magadonians") until the offer of a clothing item that could rile his opponent, who, to him, has "been so bad, it's ridiculous." She showed, throughout the session, who was to be ridiculed.
That the MAGA hat deserved a mention in a political debate spoke volumes for what is essentially an unremarkable-looking headgear. This cap, linked to baseball, is not one associated with stylish American stars, such as A$AP Rocky. This is MAGA-mass (or mess, depending on who on the two sides of the political divide you ask). It is doubtful that Mr Trump, when he first wore the cap just weeks after he announced his first candidacy in 2015, had thought it would become the the badge of approval with the commercial value of the royal warrants of the UK, even if he likely believed he looked great. The introduction of the cap did not result from some astute image-building strategy. According to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, speaking to CNN in 2017, "somebody actually sent us a sample. They brought that sample to Donald Trump and he said, 'I like it, let's tweak this, let's do it differently.'"
It is doubtful that Mr Trump, when he first wore the cap just weeks after he announced his first candidacy in 2015, had thought it would become the the badge of approval with the commercial value of the royal warrants of the UK, even if he likely believed he looked great
Differently was tweaking the small details of the hat. What was unchanged was the text that was emblazoned in two lines on the front side of the cap, just above the curved bill, which served as an arched underscore of the quick-to-catch-on phrase. Typical of Trump's social media blusters, they appeared in shouty, full-cap Times New Roman. Make America Great Again was first used by Donald Trump as early as the December of 2011 when he released a statement to assure the public that he was not discounting the crazy possibility of running for the presidency. "I must leave all of my options open," he wrote, "because, above all else, we must make America great again." But it was not some clever phrasing from a brilliant mind. Available resources attributed the political rallying call to Ronald Reagan, whose more inclusive, less instructional "Let's make America great again" was much associated with his 1980 presidential bid.
Mr Trump claimed to the Washington Post in 2016 that he did not know of Mr Reagan's use of the phrase until around 2015. Nor, it seemed, his "many" lawyers—so numerous that he bragged to WP: "I have a lot of lawyers in-house. We have many lawyers". He concerned himself not with the originality of the phrase, but noted with satisfaction that Mr Reagan "didn't trademark it". He, of course, quickly did. The application was for "political action committee services", and he put the trademarked phrase to good textual use. The former president lauded his move, saying, "I think I'm somebody that understands marketing." The MAGA hat unexpectedly took off. On the day of the inauguration of his presidency in January 2017, an aerial view of the disputed crowd size saw a sea—not ocean—of red MAGA hats. But as WP fashion critic Robin Givhan wrote in a 2019 editorial, "the MAGA hat is not a statement of policy; it's an inflammatory declaration of identity." One that rejects political correctness and accepted civility for the Trumpian sway of deep-seated narcissism and plain unmannerliness.
Donald Trump putting on his beloved MAGA hat. Photo: AP
The MAGA hat is currently available on the online Trump Store (dubbed "the official retail website of The Trump Organisation") for US$50 a piece, which costs as much as caps from the licensed-by-the-Koreans brand MLB. Or the price of ten McDonald's US$5 value meals. It is not clear how an expensive cap has galvanise his base, assumed to make up mainly of the poor. But in the soon-to-release book Stolen Pride, sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild discovered that "those most enthralled with Donald Trump were not at the very bottom—the illiterate, the hungry." These were "the elite of the left-behind." Or, those "who were doing well within a region that was not." Locally rich could, therefore, be nationally poor. Still, the MAGA hats could have been too expensive for the more impoverished Trumper. The many seen at Mr Trump's rallies could be wearing better-priced dupes. As the presidential nominees has noted before, "out of 10 hats I signed, eight of them are one of the knock-offs."
The MAGA hat was not always red, even if the colour now dominates. In 2015, when Mr Trump visited the US-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, he was photographed wearing a white one with black text. In the early, not quite halcyon days of the 2016 campaign, they were sold in different colours, but it was not only in solids. Seen, too, were those with patterns, including militant-leaning camo-prints (with bright orange text). Mr Trump's preferred red is not just any red. It is a bright—even gaudy—red, akin to a fire engine's, or a fire hydrant's or the McDonald's French fry 'box'. Or, his signature, unmissable, worn-too-long tie. On Trump Store, the MAGA hat is pictured with an accompanying copy: "Take home a classic! Our iconic Make America Great Again Hat makes a bold wardrobe statement like no other." Just like Donald Trump is inimitable? Or, as matchless as his alternative for Obamacare revealed at the debate—"concepts of a plan"?
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