I wore a MAGA hat to the most liberal park in America and the reactions were very surprising

Eight years ago, there wasn’t a soul brave enough to wear a MAGA hat through the streets of Manhattan, where liberals openly wept after Trump’s shocking election victory.

But it’s a new day in America.

Trump is back, powerful and more popular than ever.

And in the left-wing safe haven of Manhattan, support for him is greater than ever.

With the winds of his election victory buoying our sails, the Daily Mail team ventured into Greenwich Village to test his newfound popularity.

I was the guinea pig par excellence – anointed with a bright red MAGA hat, I bravely took on the task.

The result was surprising, to say the least.

As I walked through Washington Square Park in Manhattan wearing a red MAGA hat, I received a surprising amount of reaction from the crowd – with one young woman choosing to give me the finger

Several NYPD officers grinned and nodded when they saw the red MAGA hat

Although I was barely hugged, I wasn’t punched—an outcome that seems less likely if I had pulled the stunt after the 2016 election

Just two days after Donald Trump cruised to a landslide victory in the presidential election, I expected wearing a bright red MAGA hat in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park to pose some danger.

But I was stunned by the initial reactions: A man in his 20s immediately smiled, raised his fist and imitated Trump’s iconic reaction to his assassination attempt in July.

‘Fight!’ he added.

And while many of the city’s liberals and NYU student cohort gave me death stares, a surprising number of people in the park—almost all of them men—smiled, complimented, or seemed delighted at the sight of the red hat.

When Trump upset the odds and defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, the protests ignited New York City as the Big Apple became enraged with one of their own.

In Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park, flanked by the NYU campus and filled with young New Yorkers, the demonstrations lasted for weeks and continued to flare up in Trump’s early White House.

The park has the reputation of being the most left-wing public space in America. And it’s synonymous with protests for progressive causes, some of which turn violent.

While I wasn’t hugged, I wasn’t punched either – and I think everyone would agree that this is progress from eight years ago.

A surprising number of men grinned and showed subtle signs of support when they saw the red MAGA hat

Manhattan is known as a liberal hotspot, but residents were far less hostile than expected, with one young man even raising his fist and saying “fight.”

After Trump won in 2016, Washington Square Park was the scene of weeks of protests (photo). Just two days after his 2024 victory, there have been no real protests or demonstrations in the park

The first person to see my MAGA hat imitated Donald Trump’s iconic response to surviving an assassination attempt in July by raising his fist and shouting “fight”

There were no protests in response to Trump’s victory, and the only lasting legacy of Kamala Harris’ doomed candidacy was a lone supporter handing out stickers, without many takers.

At least two NYPD officers nodded approvingly at me as I walked past them, and several more men gave me some kind of “nice hat” or subtle thumbs up.

The reaction was undoubtedly less hostile than in 2016. But I wouldn’t call it a resounding hit.

Many people looked at me, did a double take or shook their heads at me.

A young woman, who was sitting on a bench smoking as I left the park, looked at me in disgust and raised her cigarette to give me the middle finger.

Another middle-aged woman in a gray pantsuit even stopped walking when we were almost face to face, and another put down her sunglasses and peered over them to make sure I caught her eye.

Just days after Kamala Harris’s thumping defeat, New Yorkers had seemingly forgotten her doomed candidacy in a way that Hillary Clinton maintained for some time after her loss.

A red MAGA hat is known to spark anger among liberals across the country, but the reaction in New York this week shows that attitudes toward Donald Trump have changed

Trump has made huge gains among voting groups that shunned him in 2016 and 2020, including a 13 percentage point increase among black men since eight years ago.

The president-elect also gained 13 points among voters aged 18 to 29 and a whopping 32 points among Latinos since the last election.

And although Kamala Harris won deep-blue New York by 11 points, Trump regained significant percentages across the city – traditionally seen as one of the country’s most liberal hotspots.

For example, in The Bronx, a borough with a 54.6 percent Hispanic majority and a 43 percent black population, Trump received 12 percent and 30,000 voters.

He made a similar, but slightly smaller, breakthrough in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, showing that the reaction in the park was far from an anomaly.