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Trump's 'Make America Great Again' Hats Are Mostly Made By Latinos In SoCal
Trump schwag (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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Before Donald Trump turned his presidential campaign into one based on racism, xenophobia, and blatant lies, it was basically a kitschy little hat that read "Make America Great Again." Turns out those hats are made by the same people that Trump once vilified as criminals and rapists.Those trademark red trucker caps with white all-caps lettering (also available in several other styles, including camo with orange lettering) are the product of the Cali-Fame hat factory in Carson, where most of the employees are Latino. "When we first got the order [for Trump's caps], I said to myself, 'Just wait until he sees who's making his hats,'" Yolanda Melendrez, who works at the Cali-Fame factory, told the L.A. Times. "'We're Latinos, we're Mexicans, Salvadoreños.'" Melendrez is a Mexican immigrant who was brought to this country by her parents when she was a baby.
"A lot of what he says about Latinos is not correct," she adds. But in the end, to her, a job's a job: "I get paid to do it and it pays my bills."
Brian Kennedy, president of Cali-Fame, gave his employees the same message when they were asked to make the hats by the Trump campaign. "I said to them, 'We're not political. We're here to work,'" he told the Times. "And I haven't gotten any negative comments." As for how his company was connected to Trump in the first place, it's because Cali-Fame has been making hats for Trump's golf courses for a while.
At least these hats are being made in the good ol' U-S-of-A. The same can't be said of other Trump apparel.
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