Ear bandages have become the accessory du jour for Republicans in tribute to Donald Trump’s gun wound.
The former president arrived at the Republican National Convention wearing a large white bandage over his right ear after it was grazed by a bullet during an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The dressing has inspired copycat versions from supporters who have gathered in Milwaukee to select him as the Republican nominee for November’s presidential election.
Joe Neglia, a delegate from Arizona, said his “bandage” represented “the newest fashion trend”.
Speaking to CBS News, he added: “Everybody in the world is going to be wearing these pretty soon.”
Mr Neglia explained how his bandage had been made by folding up a piece of paper on the bus ride over to the Fiserv Forum.
‘I put it on to honour Trump’
In a separate interview on Tuesday, Mr Neglia told Fox News: “Yesterday when he came in, and there was that eruption of love in the room, I thought, what can I do to honour the truth? What can I possibly do?
“And then I saw the bandage and I thought, I can do that. So, I put it on simply to honour Trump and to express sympathy with him and unity with him.
“There’s a male version and a female version… because there are only two genders!”
Stacey Goodman, another Arizona delegate who was wearing a piece of paper over her ear, told CBS News it was “done in solidarity with my president, Trump, not the current thing that’s in the administration”.
Other attendees were also spotted sporting the look.
One woman’s ear accessory was displayed under a cowboy hat, while a man dressed in an Uncle Sam costume wore his fake bandage while performing a cover of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” on a harmonica.
Trump was wounded on Saturday when a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks pierced his skin. One man was killed in the attack and two others were hospitalised. The shooter was killed by Secret Service snipers.
In other tributes at the convention, an image of Trump’s head was added to cardboard cutout of a Rambo-style figure holding an assault rifle while one delegate donned a striking pair of leggings depicting the candidate’s face.
However, it was less of a heroic opening for one of Trump’s chief lieutenants.
Rudy Giuliani, his former lawyer, was seen tumbling sideways into a row of chairs in the arena before falling onto the floor.
Fellow attendees stopped to help the 80-year-old stand up and he appeared unhurt.
