Sheriff: Man Following Wife's Orders Harasses MAGA Hat Wearer with 'Communist' Jab, Spits on Him
We’ve seen people with “Make America Great Again” hats get attacked before. In a polarized country where some people don’t think violence is that bad when it’s perpetrated against your political opponents, it’s the kind of thing that’s bound to happen.
Even when considered against the impressive backdrop of those who couldn’t manage their Trump Derangement Syndrome and turned violent, however, the case of Matthias Ajple is unique.
Ajple, 43, faces charges of battery after allegedly confronting a man wearing a MAGA hat on a suggestion from his wife, calling him a communist, spitting on him and then telling police officers, “I don’t even care that I’m going to jail. This is actually exciting.”
According to the TCPalm, 67-year-old Robert Youngblood was having dinner at Hurricane Grill & Wings in Vero Beach, Florida (of course it was Florida), Oct. 25 when he was allegedly approached by Ajple.
“You should go back to Russia you f—— communist,” Youngblood says Ajple told him.
Really now? A communist? I’ve heard that used against, say, Bernie Sanders before. Typically it doesn’t get trotted out against MAGA hat-wearers. This is a new one indeed.
Ajple’s wife would later say she suggested to her husband that he approach Youngblood and tell him to “go back to Russia,” although she apparently didn’t direct him to do what happened next.
According to a report from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, Ajple slapped the hat and then leaned over the restaurant’s gate and spat on Youngblood.
Newsweek said the report “clearly shows” Ajple “slapping the brill of Youngblood’s hat and leaning over the gate to spit on him.”
Ajple then got into a car and drove away — but not before Youngblood got his license plate number.
Well, that’s bad enough. When deputies went to Ajple’s house, things got even stranger.
Deputies said Matthias Ajple was at a bar last Friday when he saw another man wearing a Make America Great Again hat. The man told investigators that Ajple slapped the brim of his cap and spat on him before walking out. https://t.co/f1KtpBQDib
— KCBD NewsChannel11 (@KCBD11) October 31, 2019
According to the Miami Herald, Ajple originally didn’t want to talk to law enforcement. Then he decided to open his mouth, which is so seldom a good idea in these sorts of circumstances.
“I was just trying to protect you guys because I support law enforcement. Trump supporters are communist and racist,” Ajple told deputies.
“I don’t even care that I’m going to jail. This is actually exciting.”
“Plus, I have more time on this earth than he does anyway. He probably feels so good about himself,” Ajple added, an apparent reference to the fact that Youngblood is older at 67 years old.
Well, how exciting it was I cannot say, but he did indeed go to the Indian River County Jail, if just for a few hours. Ajple was booked on battery charges at 12:15 a.m. Saturday and released at 2:17 a.m., Newsweek reported.
“Youngblood said Ajple later called and tried to apologize, but Youngblood told him to never call again,” TCPalm reported.
The sad thing is how often this happens. The Treasure Coast is \the same part of Florida, mind you, where a school bus aide escaped charges after she allegedly ripped a blue hat emblazoned with “Trump” on it off of a 14-year-old earlier this year.
In another incident, in Texas, 16-year-old Hunter Richard allegedly had his MAGA hat stolen and a drink thrown in his face by an adult man in a San Antonio Whataburger last summer.
Earlier this year in Palo Alto, California, Rebecca Parker Mankey went viral in the most unfortunate of ways after verbally berating a MAGA hat-wearing man on camera.
In February, a New Jersey teen was arrested for allegedly assaulting an 81-year-old man with a MAGA hat in a New Jersey supermarket.
A hat is a hat is a hat. The fact that the hat is a symbol of Donald Trump’s presidential run is wholly irrelevant.
If you don’t like President Trump, vote him out. Work for his opponents. Donate to them.
Just don’t hit — or spit on — other people in red baseball caps because their ideology differs from yours.
I’m not saying this just because I want to stress that it’s never appropriate to intimidate or assault people whose political beliefs diverge from yours; that should go without saying.
I’m doing it because of the irony involved. I feel obligated to point out that jail is “actually exciting” in the same way that Trump supporters are “communist.”
It’s not just that both statements aren’t true, it’s that the extremity of the untruth is so massive.
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