For context:
Todd Muller has been the leader of New Zealand's (barely) centre-right National Party for what feels like nigh on five seconds now and the media are already after him. You can read about it here.
Anyhow... Muller is now being targeted by everyone from the far-left Green Party to the "Muslim community" over this photo (originally from an article in 2019) containing a certain hat.
Muller describes himself as a "bit of an American political junkie", and apparently travelled to the US in 2016 during the leadup to their elections. He visited both Trump and Clinton campaign events and grabbed a souvenir from each. A pair of pins from Clinton's, and a MAGA hat from Trump's. No biggie, right? WRONG! Despite Muller talking in that article about how depressing and polarised he saw US politics becoming, and how he actively refused to put on the hat for a photo... he's being thrown to the dogs.
Muller has now been smeared by various sources as a Nazi, white supremacist, racist etc etc. Or if he's not, he's endorsing those things by having the hat on his shelf.
So to end: I'm not a fan of Trump, or even of Muller, I just think it's wildly unfair how he's being treated and stinks of an organised media hitjob.
Your thoughts, NSG? Should owning a MAGA hat automatically banish you via the court of public opinion?