Here's Why It Look So Weird When Donald Trump Wears Hats
When President Obama wore a tan suit to a press conference in 2014, people freaked out. HuffPost editor Amanda Terkel tweeted “I can't hear what Obama is saying over his suit,” while Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery asked, "Who gave President Obama that old church suit from my dad's closet?" According to a lot of people on the internet, seeing our our president appear in a light-colored suit was thoroughly distracting.
However, as we’ve been discovering over the past few months, there are weirder things a president can wear than a tan suit. He could also wear hats with his own branding on them, as Donald Trump is frequently photographed doing. Throughout campaign season, Trump's red “Make America Great Again” baseball hat was ubiquitous — but after he took office, it became clear that the hat was no mere piece of campaign swag. Trump often wears hats while attending to his presidential duties; he even wore a cap this past week, while visiting Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
Though there is a lot more to discuss about Trump's Texas visit beyond his hat, the president wearing a USA snapback with the number 45 on the side, as if the country is a sports franchise with 45 championships, was striking to many. “Amid Harvey, Trump eschews typical presidential optics for Trumpism,” Rick Klein wrote at ABC News, in an article illustrated with images of a cap-wearing Trump; editor Gabriel Howard tweeted, “For a third time, Trump is using Hurricane Harvey as product placement for a hat he sells for $40,” referencing the fact that the hat is available for purchase on Trump’s re-election campaign website.
Trump's hats look weird for a lot of reasons, not least among them that modern presidents, as a rule, don't really wear hats while on the job; the president’s head is the dome of authority. "Here's the general rule: You don’t put stuff on your head if you’re president ... That’s Politics 101. You never look good wearing something on your head,” President Obama commented in 2013, as a way of rejecting the Navy football team’s request to put on one of their helmets. This tradition makes Trump’s tendency to wear baseball caps all the more distracting.
