Former President Donald Trump kicked off a new fashion trend when he showed up at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisc., this week.
No, it’s not his sneaker line – which includes nearly $300 shoes depicting the recent attempt to assassinate him – it’s ear bandages.
During that assassination attempt last Saturday, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a shot that grazed the former president’s ear.
As blood poured down his face, Trump pumped his fist into the air as Secret Service took him for medical care. In addition to injuring Trump, Crooks injured two other bystanders at the Butler, Pa., rally and killed 50-year-old former fire chief Corey Comperatore. Crooks was killed by law enforcement.
When Trump arrived at the RNC Monday, he was sporting a white bandage on his ear, a clear reminder of the weekend’s violence. By Wednesday, white ear bandages had become a popular accessory at the convention, according to Axios and photos from Getty Images.
Joe Neglia, a 63-year-old delegate from Tempe, said it’s “the newest fashion trend… everybody in the world is going to be wearing these pretty soon,” in an interview with CBS News.
“The unusual accessory is sweeping the convention hall, where delegates and supporters, in a tribute to the former President and party nominee, are showcasing their own versions of his wound dressing, ranging from cotton pads to tape to folded pieces of paper,” said Time magazine. According to the outlet, the bandage “has reinforced Trump’s image of infallibility among supporters—many of whom already see him as something of a messiah.”
Apart from sporting bandages to honor the GOP’s presidential candidate, his supporters have also taken to raising their fists and chanting “fight” as he did after the shooting. Time said the bandages, the fight chant and images from the assassination attempt are likely to be common sights as we head towards the November election and possibly even after.