There’s a new MAGA hat on the horizon!
Although it isn’t a rip-off of the original MAGA hat, it indeed is a 180-degree turn from that one!
What does this MAGA stand for?
Well, this time the catchphrase is – Make America Go Away!
The MAGA slogan!
If there’s one slogan that has been at the centre of the attention of Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign last year and now his presidency, it’s ‘
Make America Great Again
’.
The 45th and 47th President of the United States of America has time and again worn ‘Make America Great Again’ hats to put emphasis on his motto. Not just that, supporters of the President also have often been seen in rallies and protests wearing those hats. More than a political slogan, the bright red cap has been embraced by supporters as a badge of patriotism.
However, critics opposing the sentiment have launched another batch of
MAGA hats
and they are now gaining popularity worldwide.
The origin of the other MAGA hats:
During US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to a US air base in Greenland last week, Greenlanders staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in the island nation. While some anti-American protesters were seen holding ‘Yankees Go Home’ banners, others were wearing ‘Make America Go Away’ caps.
Aannguaq Reimer-Johansen, a Greenland native, shared the post a week before the Vances’ arrival. He wrote, “Citizens: Vance’s wife’s visit is a charm offensive. If you take a smiling selfie with them, you are sending a signal to the whole world that you love America and want to be part of it. Therefore, don’t show interest. We have already shown our position through a large demonstration. Let’s stand firm and stick together.” In the post on Facebook, he also shared a parody MAGA hat, a red headgear with the words ‘Make America Go Away’ written on it. These parody hats are gaining popularity not just in Greenland but also in Canada. Residents in Nuuk also planted Greenlandic flags in the snow and a cardboard sign in English that said ‘Our Land. Our Future’.
The expansion of the other MAGA hats:
After the other MAGA hat gained a considerable amount of attention and popularity on the internet, now titled, ‘
Make America Go Away Hat
, Maple Leaf Cap’, one such parody headgear is being sold on Amazon Canada for around ₹1,000 each. The description of the piece of clothing reads, “Bold Political Statement – Show your Canadian pride with this ‘Make America Go Away’ hat featuring a maple leaf, perfect for anti-Trump supporters.” Another version of the cap includes ‘Canada Is Not For Sale’ written on it.
That hat set off a similar social media hoo-ha and thrust its creators, Liam Mooney and Emma Cochrane of Ottawa, Ontario, onto an unexpected career path. They have now created a brand called Canada Is Not For Sale and, Mooney said, have sold more than 40,000 of the hats, not only in Canada but “in almost every country in the world”. Instead of petering out, the demand is growing.
What’s next for the other MAGA hat?
As per Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history at New York University, the Greenland and the Canada MAGA hats are part of a long tradition of protest and
protest art
that embraces the familiar and subverts it.
While Mooney thinks the appeal of his hats is simple and says, “Policy and trade pacts and international relations can be very confusing. This cuts through all the noise,” Ben-Ghiat of NYU believes that the merchandising of the anti-MAGA movement is just beginning. As imagery spreads across social media, according to her, “What someone invents in Greenland may be embraced in Canada, Mexico and America.”
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