OP-ED: I Wear a MAGA Hat Just so Someone Will Make Eye Contact with Me

Being a Trump enthusiast is a lonely, polarizing life. People think they can make gross assumptions about me just based on this group that I have chosen to affiliate myself with. I feel this kind of prejudgement every day. With just one glance at my laptop, people assume that I write for The Statesman or support defunding Planned Parenthood. It’s just another example of the bigotry running rampant in our nation that people think they can judge me based on the things that I actively use to express myself with. But still, when people read over the back of my laptop in class, they linger. When I am gone, they will sing anecdotes of my name. And when I stroll down Locust Walk on a sunny day with my MAGA hat on, for one instant — one fleeting, beautiful instant — someone will make eye contact with me.

When I wear a MAGA hat, people acknowledge me. I catch people’s eyes wherever I look. I can feel the warmth of glares all around me. People who would ordinarily have never glanced up from their phones will now spend ten whole seconds reading my hat before looking — straight into my eyes — to see who the asshole in the MAGA hat is. For a second, this one hat has made human connection great again.