'A small act of patriotism': Canada's anti-Maga hats go viral [View all]

[babylonsister]

‘A small act of patriotism’: Canada’s anti-Maga hats go viral
Ontario premier’s ‘Canada is not for sale’ cap emerges as an unlikely expression of unity amid Trumpian threats
Leyland Cecco
Sat 18 Jan 2025 06.30 EST


Few items of clothing have come to exemplify American far-right nationalism in the 21st century as much as the red “Make America Great Again” hats worn and sold by Donald Trump. But this week, the beloved – and reviled – headwear appeared to have met its match.

Before a high-stakes meeting with Canadian leaders in preparation for American tariffs, the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, strode into the summit wearing a hat emblazoned with a defiant message: “CANADA IS NOT FOR SALE”.

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For the hat’s creators, “it’s been a wild and surreal few days”.

Liam Mooney, who runs a design firm in Ottawa with his fiancee Emma Cochrane, said the hat came about as a direct rebuttal to a viral Fox news segment in which the host Jesse Watters taunted Ford about Trump’s threat to annex Canada.

“If I were a citizen of another country and I was a neighbour of the United States, I would consider it a privilege to be taken over by the United States of America,” Watters told the Ontario leader.

Mooney and Cochrane were “shocked” at the hostile interview and spent the next few hours coming up with the “creative rebuttal” to the Trumpian threats.

The result was a cap with a Canadian-designed typeface and a simple but firm message. “It was a small act of patriotism to respond to these big threats and this big bluster,” said Mooney.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/18/canada-not-for-sale-hats-maga