Donald Trump’s madcap hat has two parody Twitter accounts -- and trademark protection
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a brief stop at a campaign event in Laredo, Texas, on Thursday. The hat he’s wearing has become a hit on social media and spawned two parody Twitter accounts.
Hillary Clinton pantsuit meme, step aside and make way for Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hat, a garish piece of headgear that seems to have social media flipping its collective lid after it debuted at a Laredo, Texas, campaign stop on Thursday.
It’s a hat that somehow combines the worst properties of two all-American pieces of headgear; a five-panel hat with the rough silhouette of a baseball cap, it has the stiff front panel usually associated with the trucker with a pseudo-upscale flourish of braided cord strung horizontally where the brim and crown meet. The underside of the brim appears to be blue as is the embroidery on the front panel that spells out the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
"The only thing that could make Trump's hat more awesome is if it were written in Comic Sans,” commented one Twitter user. Another wrote: “If the Presidency doesn't work out for Trump, he can always be a train conductor with that hat.” Still others had a field day wiping away the original message, replacing it with alternatives that included: “I don’t use teleprompters” and “I know crazies.”
It’s also spawned not one but two parody Twitter accounts @trumphat (first tweet: “hello, from texas. #notmexico #trumphat”) that went live Thursday and @DonaldTrumphat throwing its hat in the ring early Friday. Given that Trump’s trademark coif also has a similar account (@TrumpsHair has been around since 2009), that gives him the distinction of being the only candidate with three parody accounts from the neck up. (It’s your move, Trump’s chin …)
And speaking of trademarks, the Donald has actually gone and trademarked the phrase “Make America Great Again” – despite the fact that the slogan was famously used by Ronald Reagan during his first run for the White House. According to a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database, the registration date was just 10 days ago -- July 14, 2015.
Although it seems like a no-brainer of a campaign fundraising item to offer, as of this writing there doesn’t appear to be any place at Trump’s campaign website to buy one. According to published reports, it can be bought onsite at Trump Towers in New York City though a phone call seeking additional information (and price) was not immediately returned.
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