To ask: What would you think if you saw someone wearing a red MAGA (Make America Great Again) baseball hat

[Muffster]

A) if you were in the USA
B) if you were not in the USA.

I just saw my first one (tourist, on holiday). And was a bit surprised by how eeeeewww I felt.

I wouldn't really care. I'd think they had different political opinions to me and then just get on with my day.

I'd assume they were wearing it ironically if I saw it in this country.

Knee jerk reaction...

A) Trump loving twat
B) Wind up merchant.

I wouldn’t care. Having opposing political views doesn’t make them bad or ignorant. Some of the replies on here, however...

Yes I genuinely feel a bit sad for some of the people on this thread.

I live in Texas, in a very Red county and I’ve never seen one.

A) would assume trump supporter and a twat

The problem is Trump supporters aren’t all thick, aren’t all twats.

The vast majority of my kids’ friends’ parents voted for him. The vast majority of my neighbours voted for him.

These are educated people, who seem very nice and (otherwise) pretty sensible.

It’s extremely hard to understand but it’s not as simple as “thick, nasty racists” Although Trump personally is clearly all of those things.

Fazackerley well I “genuinely feel a bit sad” for the parents who were separated from their children; for the Muslim people who are abused daily; for the women who cannot access birth control, abortions, basic pre or post natal care; for the gay people who are bullied and beaten.

This is the rhetoric behind the “MAGA” bullshit.

Great Mumsnet logic there!

In the US, it's up to them how they vote (not my choice but not my country).

In the UK I probably wouldn't even notice it.

That someone had a political opinion that differed from mine and wasn't it great he felt safe enough to express it openly without fear.....

my opinion is that somebody who voted for Trump is either a racist twat, or somebody who has been fooled by his horrid rhetoric and is very deeply misguided, if not a little thick, it's my opinion, I am entitled to it!

This exactly sums up my opinion of anyone who voted to leave the EU.

This exactly sums up my opinion of anyone who voted to leave the EU.
You have a low opinion of an awful lot of people then. You're entitled to your opinion, of course you are. It doesn't mean you're right and I would argue that it shows a lack of intelligence and empathy not to understand or attempt to understand the motivations of quite so many people.

There’s a huge difference between voting for someone and continuing to support someone despite all the shitty things they have done since coming into power.

People wear MAGA hats because they know they’ll get a reaction, but then when they get a negative reaction, they hold up their hands and go “But it’s only a hat”.

So, if I saw someone wearing one, I wouldn’t give them the time of day.

And I am angry about the situation in the US. The government shutdown, the repealing of every good thing Obama did, the terrible way refugees have been treated, all of it.

The same way I feel about UKIP, or Britain First.
Wary. My perception is small-minded bigotry with a potential for insular racism and an active desire to limit or end all human rights that were not directly applicable to them. If I saw a child wearing one, that their parents were arses.

I like to insinuate that they can't be very good patriots if they're saying that 'Murica isn't alerady "great".

A , None of my business
B , None of my business

A) misguided fool, very possibly a racist
B) misguided fool, very possibly a racist

Would I say something to them about it? No, it’s their choice what they believe and what they wear.

Honestly I feel sorry for many Trump supporters. Not the the out and out racists but the poorly educated, ill informed ones who still believe Trump can actually make their country great (again).

Hmmm...sounds a bit like the British Monarchy to me.

//////

Although a major difference for me between the two is the Orange One with all of his bigoted, misogynistic nasty views has his hand very close to a rather scary red button. And given he's partial to toddler tantrums (the current government shutdown) that makes me a bit nervous!

ChildofGod92
Bullshit

Muffster

I couldn’t think how to express my extreme disapproval so I pointedly crossed the road. Then I had to cross back again because the shop I needed was on his side

I wish I could’ve thought of something polite but savagely disdainful to say.

This is the most English post I've seen on MN. Hate to say this, but it's adorable.

'I emphatically sipped my tea/reprovingly rang the doorbell/chidingly turned left rather than right and then realised that I had to sit there eating my current bun/ that the doorbell wasn't working/ that I needed to turn right to get to my car.

'I do so wish I weren't too polite to have come up with something nasty and scathing to say.'

I’d think that they were Trump supporters and therefore people that I should try avoiding at all costs as they’d likely be f-wits. Whichever country I saw the hat in. But to be fair I react the same when I see those bumper stickers that say things like ‘ my kid is on the honor roll at blah blah high school’ or T-shirts screaming ‘ God bless America’ etc. There’s a LOT of that shit in the US - particularly in the mid West and South.

Whatever happened to not judging a book by its cover? Why not talk to the person and then make up your mind? Lack of debate was what got Trump into power and will do again!

That sounds like victim blaming at its worst!

What I am saying is that it is unfair to assume that just because someone is wearing said hat, they are racist, inbred, misogynistic, etc. I am also saying the British monarchy is guilty of the same things, they just look better doing it. And regardless, the term MAGA means different things to different people and people have different reasons for wearing the hat. It seems disingenuous to jump to conclusions about every single person but by all means suit yourselves. Do what makes you happy and keep telling yourselves what you have is so vastly superior.

By the way women can most certainly get birth control, abortions, college education. Thr vast majority of us certainly don't condone beating gay people or Muslim's though you might be getting us confused with countries governed by Sharia law we are not quite the savages many of you seem to think you are just because that pufalump runs his mouth it does not mean all Americans are that way, if you see someone wearing a MAGA hat and it infuriates you so much why not just ask what the meaning is behind it. Trump is not actually the first president to use that term Reagan and Clinton said it too! A few of you not all are every bit as nasty and intolerant and jump to inaccurate assumptions just as much as Trump!