Going undercover as a Trump Supporter

I could not miss out on the opportunity to see what it truly feels like to embrace the greatness that could be America. I donned a cheap knock-off Chinese-made Trump hat and a brunette wig to make myself look believable, as most people have yet to see a Trump supporter with short purple hair like my own.

Speaking of greatness, only few are capable of crossing the threshold at which point even the most basic of material goods become associated with that individual.

Kanye West did just this when he somehow sold a plain white t-shirt for $120. Donald Trump has done just that – with one $25 red “Make America Great Again” hat at a time.

Bewildered by this strange appropriation of red baseball caps, I walked the corridors of De Anza College, and while it was clear that De Anza students were not ready to make America great again, the results were surprising.

Now, it’s key to understand that there are a couple presuppositions about De Anza and its students. First, parking is more perplexing to most students than magnets – how do they even work anyway?

Pertinent to my adventures as a fake Trump supporter is the second assumption – one which assumes that De Anza students are borderline communists with no tolerance for dissent.

Both days I was met with odd stares, quick glances away, wide eyes and quickened paces.

Considering the frequency Trump speaks with, lets say, somewhat of a questionable nature with regard to minorities, awkward stares from an extremely diverse campus were the least I expected.

But what did surprise me was the tolerance.

A campus located in the heart of the hyper-liberal Silicon Valley seemed to respond rather mildly. There was almost (though not quite) a grudging respect to my act of nonconformity, the promotion of greater diversity in thought and politics.

That said, the older individuals – students or faculty – had a tendency to stare a lot more intensely than their younger counterparts. Maybe they know how uncomfortable I’m making people, or maybe they just really really hate Trump. Either is, to be fair, a farily valid reason.

While Donald Trump’s hat may simply seem like just another graphic hat, there is undoubtedly an extreme connotation which it carries. According to the Washington Post, Trump’s campaign has actually spent more on hats than on polling. One thing is for sure – I don’t think I can ever look at a red hat the same way ever again.