The increasingly bitter US culture wars hit a new low this week with the news that a shipyard worker was sacked for wearing a Trump 2020 hat.
With presidential election fever gripping a divided nation, the red baseball caps are a popular item for supporters of incumbent Donald Trump.
Newports News Shipbuilding worker Dave Sunderland told the Daily Press he had been wearing Trump hats to the yard for nearly four years.
More recently, he had taken to sporting a Trump 2020 hat from his house to his work site inside the gates.
And sometimes for a short safety meeting before his shift started.
But the 55-year-old's refusal to remove the headgear before a meeting last week ended up costing him his job.
Sunderland said the human resources department told him he had violated a policy barring yard workers from "campaigning" while on site.
Builder and repairer Newport News Shipbuilding is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries and the largest industrial employer in Virginia.
