House Budget Committee chair Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) called Sunday for a ban on teenagers wearing “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hats, in response to a viral video of a confrontation between Catholic students and Native American counter-demonstrators at the March for Life on Friday in Washington, DC.
Yarmuth holds one of the most powerful positions in the Democrat-run U.S. House of Representatives.
![John Yarmuth and Nancy Pelosi (Drew Angerer / Getty)](https://media.breitbart.com/media/2019/01/John-Yarmuth-and-Nancy-Pelosi-Getty-1024x768.jpg)
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 25: (L to R) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks as Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) looks on during a news conference to express their opposition to the GOP tax reform plan, October 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Republicans are expected to introduce their tax reform bill in the coming weeks. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
He blamed President Donald Trump for the students’ behavior.
Yarmuth tweeted:
I am calling for a total and complete shutdown of teenagers wearing MAGA hats until we can figure out what is going on. They seem to be poisoning young minds. [1/2] https://t.co/yq5bLd4kE2
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) January 20, 2019
The conduct we saw in this video is beyond appalling, but it didn’t happen in a vacuum. This is a direct result of the racist hatred displayed daily by the President of the United States who, sadly, some mistake for a role model. [2/2]
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) January 20, 2019
The MAGA hats are one of the most recognizable symbols of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, and are commonly worn by Trump supporters.
However, as numerous critics have pointed out, the confrontation was widely mis-reported, and took place in almost exactly the opposite way it had been reported in the mainstream media.
The students had been targeted by racial slurs, and the Native American activist approached them, rather than the other way around.
Yarmuth, like every other member of Congress, swore an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution — including the First Amendment, which declares: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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