What a 150 dollar “Make America Great Again” Hat Christmas Ornament Says About Trump’s Movement

I accidentally signed on to the Donald Trump mailing list a few months back when I registered for tickets to see Trump speak in my hometown of Atlanta. I stayed on it because it provides a fascinating, scary, awful glimpse into the mind of Trump and his followers. I meant to unsubscribe — with a vengeance! — following his election. Getting new emails from Trump post-victory was like getting unexpected texts from an ex who has been stalking you.

I’m glad I procrastinated, however, because this morning I got an email informing me I could buy a Christmas ornament of the legendary “Make America Great Again” red baseball hat Trump wore throughout his campaign for a mere 149 dollars. The communique goes on to assert, “President-elect Trump loves Christmas and makes a point of proudly saying “Merry Christmas” every chance he gets.”

This simultaneously makes no sense, and all the sense in the world. Trump is the official candidate of the “War On Christmas.” He was elected on the backwards notion that to even acknowledge minorities is an unforgivable insult to the majority. He’s the candidate of “Why isn’t there a White History Month?” and “Aren’t the BET Awards racist?” and, of course, #AllLivesMatter and #BluelivesMatter.

Of course to acknowledge, and honor that there are religions other than Christianity by saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, or along with “Merry Christmas” seems like a very mild display of tolerance and understanding. It takes incredibly thin skin and a fragile ego to see this not just as an insult to Christmas but as nothing less than a war on the very institution.

Trump rose to power promising that he would protect the powerful white majority, a group that has historically wielded a wildly disproportionate amount of power and influence in our society, from minorities who have historically had very little power and influence. These minorities, be they African-American women or Muslim men or the transgendered, have been the subject of genuine oppression and discrimination, not hurt feelings over a Starbucks cup not explicitly referencing the supremacy of Jesus love over all other religions here in Jesus’ own United States of Christianity.

Donald Trump insisting on saying “Merry Christmas” instead of stabbing baby Jesus in the heart by saying something awful and craven and unforgivable like “Happy Holidays” (just thinking of that poisonous combination of words is filling me with rage!) is a stupid symbolic gesture but it symbolizes an awful lot. It’s an incredibly belligerent act that implicitly, and not-so-implicitly, asserts that other religions matter less than Christianity, and that to engage in even modest acts of tolerance and multiculturalism is an unforgivable crime against the true, Christian heart of our country. Trump believes in religious liberty only to the extent that he wants Christians to be able to discriminate against whoever they’d like on the basis of their religious convictions.

Saying “Happy Holidays” is no insult to Christmas. Far from it. It merely acknowledges a multitude of different faiths and traditions, some Christian, some not. Similarly, gay marriage is no insult to straight marriage. On the contrary, it strengthens straight marriage by making the entire institution of marriage more equitable and fair and kind.

Aggressively trying to cultivate a vibrant, multicultural society that not only honors but celebrates our differences and diversity is not an unforgivable insult to the American way of life: It should be the American way of life. Yet Trump and the alt-right have been disgustingly successful in re-branding multiculturalism and cultural sensitivity as nefarious schemes to destroy the “hard-working, patriotic” (and, needless to say, white) Americans who make America great. And apparently could really use a 150 dollar Christmas ornament, but only if it sounds like a killer detail in a dystopian satire about capitalism run amok.

Trump has already begun to backtrack on his heated rhetoric. Trump ran as a savior of the Caucasian way of life and the man who would single-handedly make America great again. He’s now showing himself to be just another politician. He’s sold an adoring public a myopic bill of goods about how he will protect people who have an awful lot from the people who have almost nothing. Now he’s trying to sell his fans a tacky, vulgar, insanely overpriced trinket that symbolizes the noxious self-worship and broken promises of his campaign and movement to a damning and surreal degree.

Nathan Rabin is a dad, columnist and the author of five books, most recently 7 Days In Ohio: Trump, The Gathering of the Juggalos and the Summer Everything Went Insane, which has just been released in a “Hugely Expanded” edition