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Why Are Trump Supporters Wearing Ear Bandages? The Trend Mimicking Donald Trump's Injury Explained
After all the news coverage, memes and debates that followed the failed assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, some Republican National Committee (RNC) attendees and supporters started wearing ear bandages in shows of solidarity.
Just as Kamala Harris supporters are exploring the viral success of her Coconut Tree-related memes using a Coconut and Palm Tree Emoji on social media as a gesture of devotion and alliance, Trump supporters have been doing this for a quite awhile in a number of ways, with the bandages merely being the newest and perhaps most eye-catching one.
Let's find out how this performative act of imitation started and why it became referenced in memes on social media.
Why Are Trump Supporters Wearing Ear Bandages?
After surviving the July 13th, 2024, assassination attempt, Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee the following week wearing a large, rectangular bandage over his right ear where the bullet struck him.
The next night, on July 17th, journalists and social media users then captured numerous images and videos of convention attendees wearing white gauze squares taped to their heads in imitation of his ear bandage, which quickly went viral online.
How Did The Trump Supporters Wearing Ear Bandages Trend Start?
On July 18th, 2024, The Hill posted a video of people wearing bandages at the convention, reporting that the trend started with the Arizona delegation and then spread to delegates from other states as more Republicans were exposed to it.
The phenomenon was widely debated on social media, as some people compared the fashion trend to a form of religious devotion while others saw it as a show of resistance. For example, X user @dumbmailguy posted a tweet comparing the practice to the Christian rite of Ash Wednesday.
Truth Social users also weighted their thoughts on the theme, comparing the ear bandage as a marker of partisan allegiance to the face mask, such as the post by user @DougBillings.
As with anything political these days, there were also those who took to using the images in memes as the objectively strange-looking photos went viral around the web.
What Else Do Trump Voters Use To Show Support For Him?
Aside from the recent mimicry, there was similar trend two months ago when Donald Trump supporters wore MAGA-themed diapers to repurpose a 2018 rumor that a former Trump employee alleged he wore diapers as far back as the '90s.
The "Real Men Wear Diapers" phenomenon was widely documented in recent months, following a viral post from the blog Dispatches From Trumpland that included photographs from a Pennsylvania Trump Rally. Similar to the bandages, the photos and memes referencing them spread on Twitter / X in May 2024.
For the full history of Trump Supporters Wearing Ear Bandages, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.