Earlier this week, an 81-year-old man was assaulted at a grocery store in New Jersey for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
Even though the story was yet another example of President Donald Trump supporters getting attacked for supporting the president, it didn’t get national attention. To be fair, it had to compete with three other stories of people being attacked for supporting Trump just this week alone.
The elderly victim in this case was leaving a ShopRite grocery store in Franklin Township when a 19-year-old, identified as Ryan M. Salvagno, lashed out over the MAGA hat, prosecutors told NJ.com. The two went back and forth over the hat, briefly, before the victim turned to leave.
“As the victim turned to walk away, defendant Salvagno was able to grab the victim’s hat and the two struggled for sole possession of the hat,” Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said in a statement to NJ.com. “Salvagno then took the victim by the arm and threw him to the ground, tipping over the victim’s cart of groceries and ultimately throwing the hat to the side.”
Salvagno was charged with disorderly persons offenses of assault and harassment, NJ.com reported.
The elderly victim received minor injuries but declined medical treatment.
NJ.com’s reporting of the assault has been factual and accurate, but their headlines have oddly downplayed the assault. They likely were not written by the author, since they differ from the reporting in the article.
The original article reporting the assault did include the phrase “physically assaulted,” but referred to the incident as a “dust-up over his MAGA hat.” Hard to say a physical assault resulted from a “dust-up,” but here we are.
In the follow-up article announcing Salvagno’s arrest, NJ.com went a step further. The words “physical assault” no longer appear in the headline, and the incident is now referred to as a “tug-of-war over MAGA hat that left 81-year-old injured, grocery cart toppled.”
Really? “Tug-of-war,” is what we’re calling it now? There’s no way this language would be used if a right-leaning person attacked a left-leaning person.
This NJ.com article was written the same day The Washington Post wrote about an assault on a right-leaning campus activist from the angle that conservatives were “enraged” about the response, making sure we all know only the Right cares that Leftists are physically assaulting right-leaning people. The Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax was the story of the month until it was shown to be a hoax, but actual crimes against conservatives are completely acceptable to the Left.