Monday, August 05, 2019

I'm Harassed And Assaulted Wearing A MAGA Hat


Young man who knocked the hat off my head
It’s dangerous to wear a MAGA hat in liberal cities like Portland, Maine. Remember when the left appealed for tolerance of their views on social and political issues? Well, many have become most intolerant of conservatives — sometimes violently, as I personally learned at Portland’s “First Friday Art Walk” last week.


Jahagir Turan beaten in Manhattan last week
A quick online search reveals several instances here, here, here, and here over the past two years in which people were physically assaulted for wearing MAGA hats — including a Manhattan man who had his face smashed in last week, but the incident was ignored by mainstream media. With all this in mind, I put on a MAGA hat and walked down Portland's Congress Street during that city's monthly event.



Artists selling their wares filled the sidewalk from the Museum of Art to Monument Square. My wife agreed to come if she could walk twenty feet behind and pretend not to know me. Along the way, I saw several stylized paintings of breasts and “Buteruses,” short for “Beautiful Uteruses.” Another woman sold T-Shirts proclaiming “F**K ICE” and “F**K THE POLICE.” I asked questions of several artists who were happy to discuss their work. Some, however, looked at my hat and answered through gritted teeth.

At the Art Walk in Portland
Two men walking by and nodded approvingly. Other people elbowed each other and pointed at me. A small group in Monument Square held up a large piece of canvas with the words: “Say No To Racism!” I walked around them as they stared at my hat. It was much the same on the return trip until a young black man snarled, “Why you wearing that hat? You shouldn’t be wearing that!” But he kept walking in the opposite direction so I proceeded on.

On Congress Street last Friday
There were more dirty looks from artists and passers-by until I got back to the intersection with High Street. In front of the Museum is an open triangle on which several artists had set up. A young man there said he admired my courage and took my picture. Then dozens of people applauded as a group of 20-30 demonstrators marched by with signs proclaiming “MAINE JEWS SAY CLOSE THE CAMPS — NEVER AGAIN IS NOW” and “ABOLISH ICE!” and “STOP FAMILY SEPARATION!” I went to the curb and took pictures.

On Congress Street last Friday
Back at the triangle, I saw the young black man had returned. In a more civil tone, he asked why I was wearing the hat. I said I liked Trump’s policies on immigration, his judicial nominations, his handling of the Middle East, the economy — until someone shouted: “What’s your job?” I said I was a retired teacher. “What did you teach?” I told them US History. “So you know about US History?” said the young black man. Yes, I said. “Trump hates people like me!” he responded, getting hostile again. “You shouldn’t be wearing that!”
Looking at my hat
Seven or eight others behind him, all white, joined him saying loudly, “Trump is racist!” I asked them what evidence they had. A young woman said Trump called white supremacists in Charlottesville “fine people.” I said Charlottesville began as a demonstration against removing statues honoring soldiers who fought for the South, but the angry group wouldn’t let me finish. Several shouted at once: “He’s racist! He raped women!”


What the left sees when looking at a MAGA hat
As they loudly berated Trump and me, I asked if I could photograph them. “No!” they said, except for the young black man. He extended his arm with his middle finger out and said, “Go ahead.” I snapped the picture, then noticed our audience had expanded. The black man got more hostile and said, “You can’t wear that hat! This is my city! I told him I watch the news, form my own opinions, and I have a right to express them just as others do — and this isn’t your city. He clenched his fists and pretended to rush me. Another man appeared at my side and told the young man to “cool it.” Still another said, “You’re saying that because he’s black! Why don’t you tell me to cool it? Because I’m white?”

At that point, the young black man knocked the MAGA hat off my head and ran off down Free Street. I put it back on and turned around to face the crowd again. Some apologized for what he had done. Others got more civil at first but soon resumed shouting at me. I offered counterpoints whenever I could though I doubted I would change any of their minds. But others were watching and listening so I calmly stood my ground.



My wife, however, looked very worried and asked me to leave but I wanted to continue. I parried verbally with the hostiles a little longer until she pulled my hand and whispered in my ear: “Those children are getting scared.” Behind her were three kindergarten-aged kids sitting on the curbstone who looked at me wide-eyed and upset. That bothered me more than my opponents did. A man, their father maybe, watched over them.

Once more my wife pleaded with me to leave, so I did, promising myself I’d return next month — wearing my MAGA hat again, of course.

18 comments:

DAWN said...

I tried this same experiment in The Villages, FL. Trump country. But even so there is a very loud vocal opposition alive and well here as well.

When I first announced to my Line Dance Group I was going to do this for the square that night some said I was brave and a few others said they'd wear theirs also for the first time because they hadn't dare to yet. Safety in numbers. Out of maybe 40 of us there were 4-5 who showed up that night. During the night many others said they would get one so they could do this with me next time.

I can't tell you how many people came up to me and told me how brave I was. I got hugs from strange women. I got thumbs up as men walked past me. Some just walked by and said "I like your hat." I also wore a navy blue tee with a big TRUMP across the chest. I saw a few sitting in the audience while I was dancing who looked displeased. I saw a few pointing in my direction. But not one negative comment was made towards me.

A few weeks later I again posted to my group I was going to do this again. It was Flag Day/Trump's birthday. This time many others did the same and the reaction was similar. I had on the same Trump shirt/hat. One woman was looking at me from a distance. I could tell from her body language she was not pleased. She walked up to within 15 feet of me or so with a disgusted look and turned and went back to where she started. Yep. I ticked someone off.

So far I've done this 3 times and nothing negative happened. Along the way I stopped in the store and a man walked by me telling me he liked my hat. He said here I was ok but had I gone to Orlando I might have had some trouble.

It's pretty bad when you can't even wear a hat supporting your own President without being told how brave you are. Shame on those who are bullying those who love our country enough to put on a MAGA hat and wear it proudly.

Montedoro44 said...

Here's an interesting video about Trump's racism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYqCQy7fvFw

George said...

Why would you wear that hat, clearly you don't give a s&$! about America. What is it with these Zionists? You can't be American, for America, and also have allegiance to a foreign power. How is this difficult to understand? Recall what Washington said about fetishizing foreign countries?

Please, enough with this America loving charade.

"So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliance of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.”

Brian said...

If you don’t know what the MAGA hat represents to the majority of our population than your ignorance level has reached new heights. To most people, the hat represents the anti-immigrant and racism spouted by Trump. It represents hate. Along with Confederate flags and swastikas, it was worn by marchers at Charlottesville. It was worn in online postings by the Parkland shooter. It has been worn by people convicted of hate crimes. It stands for Trump’s sentiments: “send them back to their shithole countries”, it stands for joking at rallies about shooting immigrants, It stands for his many white supremacists and KKK supporters, it stands for birtherism, it stands for clearing out black dealers at Trump casinos, it stands for discrimination and violating the Fair Housing Act, it stands for “laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” 

You cartoon of what the rest of us see in the hat is exactly right.

And if you DO know all this and wear it anyway just to aggravate people, it is your A-hole factor that has reached new heights.

But maybe you are wearing the hat for safety from actual life threatening danger, knowing that a terrorist out to shoot immigrants like we saw this weekend would try to avoid shooting you if he saw the hat. Why not a column about THAT, something truly evil and tragic. Oh, because WAAH, your hat got knocked off.....much more important than a lot of slaughtered mexicans and jews by racist home-grown terrorists, right. Once again you have your twisted priorities.

So enough of your whining about how it is actually YOU and your brethren who are the real victims in all this racial intolerance. Boo hoo…should I also feel sorry for the swastika wearing A-hole who got egged in the street?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBzEP2cJ_70

I mean he also didn't care what others see represented by it....just like you!

Reality Check said...

This is from Jon Shore, a psychotherapist, when asked if the MAGA hat was equivalent to the swastika:

Not yet.

But remember, the swastika was not the despised symbol it is today until later into the 1930s when Hitler and his Nazis took over the German government completely.

Right now the MAGA hat has come to symbolize hatred, intolerance, bigotry, ignorance, stupidity, incivility, anger, narcissism, lies and fascism.

Those who want to wear symbols of anger, intolerance and hatred have a right to do so. But the rest of humanity has a right to shun them and to reject them based upon their professed ideology.

More more businesses will reject customers who wear this hat or any other MAGA paraphernalia. That is their right. Assholes are not a protected class in America or anywhere else in the world. From now on there will be a price to pay for being a fascist or fascist supporter. Liberals are no longer going to sit back and be tolerant of those who are intolerant. They are no longer going to be polite to those who are undermining our great country. Never Again.

Dawn said...

Seriously dude?

The ones who are knocking hats to the ground, throwing liquids into faces, spewing demonic language, hitting and punching, name calling (as you did above)denying service at restaurants are the tolerant ones?

And the ones who are wearing red hats (not doing any of the above) showing support and respect for our President/Country are the hateful ones?

Don't you have this backwards? How blind can you be? Open your eyes. Check your heart. You have been snatched and reprogrammed.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is not just an old movie anymore.

Jay said...

The MAGA hat only represents hate to those who are totally uninformed and themselves full of hate.
To those of us who actually watch or attend Trump rally’s and actually hear what he is saying and not relying on sound clips edited by CNN, the MAGA hat represents a reawakening of the American spirit and hope for the future.
Having watched many rally’s myself and actually hearing our Presidents words, I could never understand how some folks misunderstood things the President said. Then I watched the fake news networks coverage of these rally’s and heard the way his words were edited and his meaning twisted and presented with straw man arguments. Then I understood.
It IS a shame so many people are willing o accept the twisted representation of our President but I am seeing more and more folks waking up to the lies of the fake news propaganda outlets.
Know this: over half the country loves the job the President is doing. Over half the country respects what the MAGA hat represents. Including me. I respect the meaning of the hat because I respect what the President is doing and what he has done. I respect because I actually watch and listen and pay attention.
If you still hate the president and think the MAGA hat represents hate, you are misinformed and aren’t paying attention.

Tom McLaughlin said...

So, Reality Check: Do you belong to ANTIFA?

Tom McLaughlin said...

To Anonymous above: Please use a name -- your own or a pseudonym used consistently. I'll let this post stay, but I usually delete anonymous posts

Brian said...


Claiming the majority of the country supports Trump shows complete ignorance or willingness to lie.

So jay, if you want to break your record of never being able to back up something you claim is a fact, then show me the poll you used to determine most Americans are in support of the Pampered Clown. The site linked below gathers information from dozens of polls, including Fox who showed the most support of all at 45%. It's simple math, man. The majority disapprove.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/trump_favorableunfavorable-5493.html

And sorry jay, the lame ass "context" excuse does not hold water. I listened to everything that surrounded the "joke" about shooting immigrants. I also found no context to change the sentiment of "send them back" (and I notice he has never said this about a white citizen whose parents immigrated to America). And I suppose there is "context" to his "blacks are lazy" comments, or to his racism in his casinos, or his racism in renting to minorities?

But back to the rallies. It's a bit scary how similar they appear to fascist rallies. Raising hands and making pledges? Racial chanting. Chanting to lock up political rivals....shouts and jokes about shooting immigrants!!?!! And just take a look below at the hateful, racist crowds....tell me how their words are taken out of context:

F*** the beaners
F*** Islam
F*** that N*****
Get out of here you fag
Send them bastards back
Hillary is a whore
Hang the bitch
Kill her

http://digg.com/video/unfiltered-voices-trump-rallies

And to Dawn:

Seriously chick? Who said the left is tolerant, or should be, of the above proven hate and racism? The previous post to yours said:

"Liberals are no longer going to sit back and be tolerant of those who are intolerant. They are no longer going to be polite to those who are undermining our great country. Never Again."

You haven't had a visit from the body snatchers, but from the mind snatchers.

And Tom, of course you didn't delete the dopey anonymous post, because you agree with it's ignorance. If it were a leftist diatribe instead it would have been deleted.






P Mattson said...

Peoples Republic of Potland

Reality Check said...

Am I in antifa? No. I don't know anybody who is. I know it has become a radical right boogeyman, but in reality is a very small movement. The Daily Caller tried, but couldn’t find much evidence of liberal support for antifa.

The radical right strategy is clear. Diminishing the rise of white nationalist violence, diffusing blame onto “many sides” – as President Trump did after “Unite the Right” – or insisting, despite all evidence, that political violence is mainly a left-wing problem.

Between 2014 and 2018, men radicalized in racist online spaces killed 81 people and injured 104 others. In 2018, “every single extremist killing” – 50 total – “had a link to right-wing extremism,” according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League, and 78% of those were white supremacists. Racists killed 13 people in October alone. A man in Kentucky gunned down two black people in a grocery store and, only days later, white nationalist Robert Bowers was charged with killing 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue. That same week, Cesar Sayoc was arrested for allegedly sending 13 explosive devices to prominent Democrats frequently demonized by the right-wing press.

Now we have the brutal massacre of 20 people by a member of the radical right out to kill immigrants. How exactly is antifa in the same league as that?

Yet you totally ignore this tragedy and instead complain about your hat getting knocked off.





Uber_Fritz said...

Tom:

That Anonymous is me!

Jay said...

“Radical right” is a term that still amuses me.
If you take the left as far as it can go you get to socialism/communism and the leaders who were proponents of that “philosophy”. No matter how you slice it these philosophies lead to oppression and death.
If you take the right as far as it can go it leads to the Constitution and those who were proponents of it. Guys like Washington. Trying to blame evil acts on “the far right” is laughable. Anyone who is a racist, bigot or supremacist of any kind is not a far right activist. Morons, yes, but nothing to do with the right and it’s philosophy which is based on the Constitution. More so these morons are leftists who have always ascribed to violence and killing when they don’t get their way.
Antifa and BLM are merely the latest examples of this.
Wearing a MAGA hat and backing our current President are not.
Democrats these days are not interested in anything other then acquiring power. Lying, cheating, sponsoring hate groups, using their media lapdogs, are all the weapons of modern day democrats.

Brian said...

jay, thanks for once again reaffirming everything I say about you.

1) Your post had NO facts. Not one. Just opinions.
2) when called out on something you have tried to pass off as fact in the past, like the goofy notion that the majority approve of Trump, you slink away offering no evidence of your claim.

Here is something else to ignore that concerns your opinion of socialism leading to oppression and death. Look up the top 10 countries for quality of life - ALL of them are more socialist than the USA.

If you take the right as far as it will go it has been shown to lead to a holocaust. Look at the definition of "nazism":

"Nazism is a form of fascism and showed that ideology's disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system, but also incorporated fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, scientific racism, and eugenics into its creed. Its extreme nationalism came from Pan-Germanism"

Anti-liberal
anti-communist
extreme nationalism

Sounds like the radical right to me. It's cute that you try and make the far right out into some sort of magical superhero for which it is impossible to do any wrong or cause any harm......really? Your stance is that there has never been a racist who was also far right??? That nobody on the far right ever committed violence as a political statement??? Grow up.

Or not, and keep worrying about the tragedy of Tom's hat (thoughts and prayers)...and keep pretending that a far right nut job didn't just massacre 20 people because he was worked up into an anti-immigrant frenzy. Yeah, it was probably Bernie that got him so worked up against immigrants....it couldn't have anything to do with your perfect Orange Idol.

Jacqi said...

Brian, please look up the definition of Fascist. A fascist is a follower of a political philosophy characterized by authoritarian views and a strong central government — and no tolerance for opposing opinions.

Fascist traces to the Italian word fascio, meaning "group, bundle." Under fascist rule, the emphasis is on the group — the nation — with few individual rights. You must support the ruling party's views on society, politics, and culture — or else. The term was used by Italian political leader Benito Mussolini under his totalitarian, anti-communist government. The word can describe someone who supports fascism — or whose behavior is so stern and controlling that it seems like he does. By this Definition, the leftist liberals are the true fasists as they are accosting ANYONE who has a different view and believe THEY are superior in all views and opinions. The only ones who have been name calling, labeling anyone who isn't a liberal or socialist as racists, bigots, supremisists etc all in order to control that group of people and silence them. While some antifa use their fists, other violent tactics include throwing projectiles, including bricks, crowbars, homemade slingshots, metal chains, water bottles, and balloons filled with urine and feces. They have deployed noxious gases, pushed through police barricades, and attempted to exploit any perceived weakness in law enforcement presence.

Away from rallies, they also engage in “doxxing,” exposing their adversaries’ identities, addresses, jobs and other private information. This can lead to their opponents being harassed or losing their jobs, among other consequences. The current political climate increases the chances of violent confrontations at protests and rallies. Antifa have expanded their definition of fascist/fascism to include not just white supremacists and other extremists, but also many conservatives and supporters of President Trump. In Berkeley, for example, some antifa were captured on video harassing Trump supporters with no known extremist connections. Antifa have also falsely characterized some recent right wing rallies as “Nazi” events, even though they were not actually white supremacist in nature. They use ANY excuse to try and silence ANYONE who supports Trump. ANTIFA AND LIBERAL BACKERS ARE THE TRUE FASCISTS! Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts have ALL backed the actions of Antifa.

DAWN said...

Well said Jacqi

I could never understand why the left has been calling the right Fascists when they are the ones acting like the Fascists to begin with.

I can only assume it's parroting and most have no idea the definition. For instance, the 1st Amendment is under attack from the left not the right. They are constantly changing our words, telling us not only what to say but how to say it. If we don't obey them, they impose punishment or call us racist. That's NOT coming from the right but from the left.

If what we've seen isn't enough already, they are stoking the furnace even hotter. There's a new movie coming out in September call "The Hunt." The movie is about the left hunting down the conservatives and slaughtering them. What is the motivation behind this? Anger? Hatred? Manipulation gone wrong? Control lost? it's all of it.

Let's be honest. It's NOT the right but the left who are the real Fascists. Own it liberals. Get a grip. Come to terms with the fact when all the smoke clears you are the ones holding the smoking guns. You are the ones killing our country. You are the ones who are bringing so much hatred and division. You are the ones hurting the children. Look in the mirror. Wipe away the smoke. Don't walk away without looking deeper. You are deceiving only yourselves. The rest of us can see you for what you really are. Test the spirits.

Montedoro44 said...

Agreed, facts & history are valuable in discussions. Please see the following, and if this guy distresses you, watch his other stuff too.

Here is Larry Elder discussing the MSM on Trump's racism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUNynMEtRFk

and here is Larry Elder on various other leftist cover-ups relating to Trump hatred:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx51gc9rAQc