Rolling Stone is gushing over a camouflage hat unveiled by the Harris-Walz campaign and suggested the new merch could help Democrats reclaim the Southern and rural identity the party has moved away from.
In a Wednesday article from the magazine, reporter Marissa R. Moss noted that the first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) looked and sounded very different from years prior, replacing big pop-star performances with country music artists.
Moss said that the lineup, which included Mickey Guyton and Jason Isbell, may be an attempt by the Democrats to appeal to the patriotic core of many country music fans who have latched onto the Republican Party for decades.
"By opening their convention with Isbell and Guyton, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz seem to want to change that, with the cherry on top appearing in the form of a Harris-Walz camouflage baseball hat released a few weeks ago — it sold out instantly," Moss wrote.
The Rolling Stone reporter suggested that country artists like Jason Aldean, who appeared at the Republican National Convention (RNC), have previously attempted to "own this sort of symbolism."
"That’s the genius work of this one small bit of Harris-Walz merch. The hat reclaims the rural and Southern identity that mainstream Democrats have long ignored, all in with the power of one nifty little cap. Ella Emhoff proudly wore hers last night, while Walz displayed his own — also camouflage — Jason Isbell hat backstage," she added.
Moss also derided Trump supporters, claiming that they are the ones "getting country music wrong." She pointed to TikToks of the former president using the Chicks’ "Not Ready to Make Nice," which was written after they were barred from Nashville following anti-Iraq War comments.
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"This baffling phenomenon by the right seems to come from either an inability to Google or an assumption that everything country music must be conservative, and it’s hard to decide which is worse," she continued.
"Somehow, it’s the Democrats who are the ones pushing beyond stereotype and finally getting it."
Moss concluded the piece by proclaiming the Democrats are now "furiously reframing" not just who they can reach, but also what a Democrat is. The party, she said, is now country.
On social media, many accounts mocked the Rolling Stone piece and the merchandise itself.
"LOL what? Just a cheap, made in China cap ‘reclaims rural and southern identity,'" radio host Dana Loesch tweeted. "Geebus these people never leave their ivory towers downtown."
"Kamala Harris's campaign is basically just Urban Outfitters. Selling hunting hats and keffiyehs to mid suburban Beckys," The Spectator contributing editor Stephen L. Miller chimed in.
"The press has found a culture worth appropriating!" former journalist Drew Holden added.
