There's a new fashion trend among the MAGA crowd at the RNC, one in a line of merch opportunities that have come out of last weekend's assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Introducing: ear bandages.
ADVERTISEMENTFormer US President Donald Trump is due to deliver a speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Thursday when he is expected to be confirmed as the Republican Party's presidential nominee in this year's election.
Trump was wounded last weekend while he was speaking at a Pennsylvania rally when a bullet fired by a shooter identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks injured his right ear. The assassination attempt claimed the life of one rally attendant, critically injured two others, and ended with Crooks shot dead at the scene by a US Secret Service sniper.
Following the botched assassination attempt, MAGA fans have come up with a new trend.
Several supporters have been sporting white rectangle bandages on their right ears to the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — mimicking Trump, who has been wearing a similar bandage at the convention after he was shot.
Members of the RNC's Arizona delegation said they were wearing the ear bandages as a tribute and a sign of solidarity, with some supporters saying that the new fashion statement is a way for him to know "how much we love him".
Fans’ own versions of the wound dressing range from white fabrics, cotton pads to folded pieces of paper.
Joe Neglia, a delegate from Arizona, said his “bandage” represented “the newest fashion trend”.
Speaking to CBS News, he added: “Everybody in the world is going to be wearing these pretty soon.”
Neglia also told Fox News: “Yesterday when he came in, and there was that eruption of love in the room, I thought, what can I do to honour the truth? What can I possibly do? And then I saw the bandage and I thought, I can do that. So, I put it on simply to honour Trump and to express sympathy with him and unity with him.”
He added: “There’s a male version and a female version... because there are only two genders.”
Charming.
Ray Michaels, another Arizona delegate, told AP: “We realised that this was a tragedy that should never have happened, and we want [Trump] to know that we are going through this with him.”
Texas delegate Jackson Carpenter gave another spin on the trendy bandaging, telling the Washington Post: “We need a symbol about political violence not being acceptable in America.”
The bandage has galvanised Trump supporters, who have repeatedly stated that his survival is due to “divine intervention” — something that Trump has also said after the shooting, stating that “it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
Ear bandages join several other trends to decry from the assassination attempt: the chant “fight fight fight” being a common one, as well as a plethora of merchandise portraying Trump as a survivor and depicting the now famous image of the rally shooting.
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However, any attempts to criticise the bandage or poke fun at the incident have been met with great vitriol — as Star Wars actor Mark Hamill soon found out when he posted the following image and comment on X.
“First appearance of ludicrously oversized ear bandage, apparently not needed prior to tonight.”
The response drew much criticism online:
There has also been a backlash against the comedy rock band Tenacious D, showing that political jokes are not welcome. They have called off the rest of their world tour “and all future creative plans” after one of the band members, Kyle Gass, stated his birthday wish onstage: “Don’t miss next time”.
ADVERTISEMENTSeveral late-night shows that thrive on political comedy changed their plans following the assassination attempt. Comedy Central's The Daily Show cancelled its Monday show and planned to broadcast from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. Its host, Jon Stewart, and his counterparts, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert, delivered sombre monologues.
So, if comedy is tragedy plus time, when is joking okay again?
“It's never too soon, unless it's not funny,” Alonzo Bodden, a standup comedian for 31 years, asserted during a phone interview with AP on Wednesday. Not a Trump fan, he said comedians “will always make it funny no matter what happens. That's what we do. It's how we communicate."
“In this case, Donald Trump is such a character and the fact that he wasn’t killed, the jokes started immediately,” Bodden said. “And I don’t think he minds. He’s one of those people that as long as you’re talking about him, it’s a win.”
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