NY Times Rends Garments Over Bovino's Coat: 'Some Minds Go Straight to the SS' #Political
“When a Coat Becomes a Symbol of Conflict,” by New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman, likened the dress sense of Gregory Bovino, who is in charge of Trump’s Border Patrol operations, to Hitler’s SS.
First the masks, then the coat.
Ever since ICE agents began to spread out across American cities, their uniforms have been points of contention....
The face masks (or buffs or gaiters or scarfs) worn by agents that hide them from the eyes of the public, or protect them, depending on the point of view, were the initial point of contention.
So masks are bad now? They used to be mandatory. For years now, protesters like Antifa could mask up without being seen as menacing.
Now, as the situation in Minneapolis escalates and more and more images emerge of protesters pitted against ICE agents, another one has re-emerged: the overcoat worn by Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of President Trump’s Border Patrol operations.
Known as a greatcoat, the long, double-breasted Army-green coat with wide lapels, big metallic buttons, epaulets and insignia on the arms stands out amid the sea of bomber jackets and tactical vests worn by the ICE agents around Mr. Bovino. It is impossible to ignore. And it has become a flashpoint in the online conversation about ICE, in part because its historical antecedents are also impossible to ignore.
It was, after all, part of the classic military costume in World War I and II.
She took her cue from online leftist hysterics, the same people who found fascist code in the universal hand gesture known “OK sign,” another witch-hunt the paper went along with in 2019). Friedman’s analysis of the leftist accusation was studiously neutral, even while Democrats were throwing Nazi labels at Republicans (so what’s new?).
And while the greatcoat was worn by officers on both sides of the world wars, including Gen. Douglas MacArthur, it is closely associated with the German military under Hitler. And thus it did not take long for Mr. Bovino’s coat to become, for many viewers, a sign not just of militarization but also of tyranny — as various commentators have been quick to point out.
Almost immediately, Gestapo comparisons began. Even California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, got in on the debate, adding his own post on X: “If you think the calls of fascism and authoritarianism are hyperbole, pause and watch this video.”
….
The problem, said Harold James, a professor of history at Princeton University, is not necessarily the coat itself, which like many items of military garb was long ago appropriated by fashion, but the way in which Mr. Bovino is wearing it and the context in which it is worn.
Or, to put it another way: The problem is the left energetically inventing a context in order to portray Bovino as a leader of fascist stormtroopers, down to his short haircut (not exactly unusual for a military man).
“Using the coat to confront crowds with armed supporters, together with Bovino’s cropped hair and the (apparently) black or dark clothing underneath, gives the unmistakable whiff of dictators and of the 1930s,” Mr. James said in an email. Accessorized with black leather shoes and gold-trimmed patches, it is a look, he said, “intended to intimidate and also provoke.”
Friedman linked Bovino’s greatcoat to Hitler’s own infamous security service, the Schutzstaffel, or SS.
It is possible that Mr. Bovino, by wearing the highly recognizable coat and accouterments of an old-fashioned strongman, is playing to a very specific audience. Mr. Trump loves a man in uniform, as his military parade demonstrated. Even, apparently, if that uniform means that some minds go straight to the SS.
Twisted leftist minds, certainly.
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