Imagine the following scenario: you’ve invited Aunt Gertie over to your house for Christmas dinner. You asked for one favor: to leave politics out of your home and avoid talking about it. This is because you know Gertie is a Trumper. 

You hear a knock on the door, and there she is. There’s just one issue. She’s wearing a MAGA hat. Or maybe a MAGA coat. Gertie is not senile. She’s only 40 years old. Yet she decided to do this, in spite of what you begged her not to do.

This scenario is surprisingly common among families throughout the United States. It often happens right before a family member is cut off, with said family member saying, “I didn’t think politics would destroy my relationship!”

But, what do people think when they see a MAGA hat at a table? Let me enlighten y’all. 

If you wear something that you were specifically told not to wear to a party, you’re being a jerk. If you’re wearing a MAGA hat after your host asked you to leave your politics out of things, you’re trying to instigate an argument at the table. 

Contrary to what you may believe, leftists aren’t stupid. We know what this is.

We can tell when someone is trying to troll us or spark division. This gesture? It’s not welcomed because it’s a clear sign that you want to antagonize people. Moreover, you’re blatantly ignoring the request of your host. Rude, much?

You might be sitting at the table with someone whose friend got carried off by Trump’s ICE. Or a government worker who was laid off or had their benefits slashed by DOGE. Or someone who just lost their health insurance due to the premium spike. 

The holidays (and family gatherings as a whole) should be a time to feel better. They should be a time to make the difficulties of life feel like a mile away. You’re just ruining the vibe and rubbing Trump in other peoples’ faces. 

If you’re a Trumper, you might think it’s fine to turn the conversation toward politics or do your angry rant thing. You might think it’s funny to make liberals “cry harder” or insult them. However, the only one who finds it funny is likely you.

Do us lefties a favor: if you can’t stop instigating others through hateful rants and clothing you know makes others upset, don’t show up at our homes.

In a time when we all want to see unity, nothing ruins the vibe faster than a person who wears crap that is meant to instigate an argument. If you wear a MAGA hat, you shouldn’t be shocked when you feel the vibe in a room change when they see you.

If the people in question had to cut ties with people over outrageous Q-Anon rants that never seem to end, they might even have a little PTSD from seeing that red hat.

I’m not joking. A lot of leftists see that hat and brace themselves for the (often inevitable) unhinged, long-winded rant they’ll hear about the dangers of brown people and the “woke mafia.”

If you have been specifically asked not to wear a certain item or not to discuss a certain topic, that’s not just a request. It’s basically the low-key dress code and etiquette code you’re expected to adhere to. 

People who put that boundary up are doing so because they know MAGA will decrease the overall quality of the experience for others who were invited there. 

The fact that MAGAs choose to ignore this is extremely rude on their part. The world doesn’t revolve around MAGAs or Trump. They should stop acting like it does and show some consideration to those around them.

I’ll let Trumpers in on a little secret: people aren’t cutting ties over “just politics.” A vote for Trump is seen as an ethical failing on your end. You can’t justify any of the following to someone on the left:

I don’t think most Trumpers are aware of how much damage Trump has done to this country. Leftists see this guy and realize that there is nothing he could say or do to stop Trumpers from being allegiant to him. 

When you see someone excuse things like child trafficking and child rape, it’s hard to view them in the same light. You can’t trust them to make good judgment calls. You can’t trust them to have decent ethics or morals. 

A vote for Trump shows a certain level of gullibility that is hard to ignore and even harder to forgive. Seeing someone wear that hat often means that the leftist in question just lost respect for that person — and that we no longer want to hear your opinions.

Speaking as a leftist who has gotten right-wing death threats, I can say that I don’t feel safe around very vocal MAGAs. I avoid them, if only because I don’t know if they’ll flip out and kill me for being too feminist or something.

Believe it or not, a lot of us older Millennials remember seeing people who voted for Obama vote for Donald Trump. If you’re a member of Q-Anon Casualties, you might be like me and remember family members and friends who were very peaceful, loving, and open-minded. 

MAGA has this weird way of destroying that side of people. It’s almost like watching Invasion of the Pod People in real life. I think about my old friend Raja*, who grew up with my mom as his assumed auntie. 

He was the most caring big brother figure I could have had, even though we rarely saw each other. He’d play practical jokes, he’d show me his Gumby collection, and he’d tell me fun stories. For a while, our parents wanted us to marry each other. Like, we were close. 

I can’t recognize him now. All he does is rant about how transpeople are sick or how lizard people control the government. He’s so hateful, it’s shocking. And I find myself asking myself if he was always like this, and if I (maybe) just didn’t notice it. 

This is a fairly common reaction for people in our shoes. We just wonder what happened to the rational, loving, accepting people we grew up with. We genuinely can’t recognize some of the people who raised us. 

Then comes the more time-sensitive question: how to handle this. On one hand, leftists often tell MAGAs to not get into politics if they are even invited to an event. If we see you coming with your hat anyway, we know people are going to judge us on the company we invited. 

Now we have to figure out what to do with the MAGA hat. Do we ask them to take it off? Well, that often leads to an argument once they do. Do we ask them to leave as soon as we see it? Sometimes, that’s an option. Some grin and bear it, only to ghost said MAGA later on. 

Either way, it’s not something we want to do. All we know is that, at that point, we often feel deeply betrayed by the invitee — and that we regret inviting them at all. 

There’s a reason why conservative dating sites do not have enough women on them to keep them functional. The reason is because being a Trumper is not attractive. 

Trumpism and misogyny go hand in hand. This is a movement that hates women with a very noticeable passion. If you’re a woman (or LGBTQIA+), seeing someone foam at the mouth for Trump is a major turn-off. 

In a recent study, 60 percent of people said that dating someone with differing political views is a dealbreaker.

I’m not going to mince words. A lot of leftists don’t like Trumpers. In fact, they often hate Trumpers because they personally have suffered as a result of Trump policy or Q propaganda. 

If you’re a Trumper or a MAGA, you’ve done a lot of damage. Don’t be surprised if that hat gets you an icy greeting wherever you go. Supporting a child rapist does that to you.

If you’ve noticed a palpable distance between you and your former friends or former family, this is why. They likely hate what you have become and they miss the old, pre-Trump you dearly. 

A friend of mine had a dinner where they invited a Republican relative. They asked him, specifically, not to get into politics for any reason. The relative showed up with a Trump hat and a Trump jacket. 

As soon as the friend’s friends saw this, they got uncomfortable and asked to leave. Why? Because my friend’s friends were Hispanic and began to fear for their family’s safety around the Trumper. They did not trust that the MAGA would not call ICE or flip out at them for existing. 

Within a matter of minutes, half the dinner party had run out of the house due to a random “emergency” they had to immediately take care of. One of the other dinner guests gave my friend a look — the look that says, “Hey, I thought you didn’t hang out with these types.”

My friend was mortified. Their Trumper friend ended up costing them multiple friendships, at least for a couple of months. Oddly enough, the MAGA hat wearer couldn’t understand why they stopped getting invited to anything thrown by my friend.

Hm. The lack of self-awareness is wild. 

It’s often this type of situation that often works as the final straw between a leftist and a Trumper. It’s not just “politics,” at this point. It’s the MAGA crossing boundaries, ignoring mild requests, instigating fights, and rubbing genocide in their loved ones’ faces. 

For many of us, seeing loved ones show up in MAGA hats is a clear sign that you’ve picked a politician who doesn’t even know who you are over your own flesh and blood. We’ve tried to extend our olive branches as much as we could tolerate, but Trump is more important. 

We just hope that the choice was worth it for those who decided they can’t be happy without their red hat.