In the United States, political merchandise is a strange and peculiar phenomenon

The Maga hat is a controversial symbol of right-wing thinking around the world. Holly Baxter considers how clothing is being used to win elections

More than a million Maga hats have been sold since 2016 (Getty)

On Monday this week, I met with a contact in the Democratic Party at a coffee shop near Union Square in Manhattan to talk about the 2020 election. He’s been helping put together some key policies for a couple of candidates; I’ve been asking him for tips every so often, as well as contacts close to other strategists. We were having a perfectly amiable discussion about which contender for the president was probably going to triumph in the primaries when he suddenly went quiet.

“What is it?” I asked, and he leaned over and said to me in a low voice: “I’ve just spotted the only man in America wearing a Tulsi Gabbard hat.”