This month, Tucker Carlson, the conspiracist pundit who commands one of the largest audiences in conservative media, released a selection of merch with provocation in mind. The items included hats that read “Sorry, I thought you were a Fed” alongside T-shirts reading “Good Luck NY” with a hammer and sickle in place of the C.
The shirts and caps speak in the perma-smirk of the internet, and are yet another example of how irony (and trolling) has become the lingua franca of today’s political discourse, and how irony is often undiscernible from sincerity. Even people who claim to be ideologically opposed to Mr. Carlson have taken to Reddit and X to admit that they like these products. Don’t be shocked if you see one of Mr. Carlson’s “NY Commie dad hats” in parts of New York that voted overwhelmingly for Zohran Mamdani.
Here, two members of the Styles desk, Jacob Gallagher and Nathan Taylor Pemberton, discuss Mr. Carlson’s latest offering.
Jacob Gallagher Some of this feels very knowing — like an in-joke. The “Actually.” hat, for example, tips to one of Tucker’s interviewing ticks. But a lot of these slogan are broad and clearly meant, at least a little, for the “other side.” Considering that some on both the right and the left espouse negative views on Israel, I could see the “AIPAC an offer you can’t refuse” hat finding fans across ideological lines.
Nathan Pemberton It’s highly self-aware, which is helping it capture people’s attention across the spectrum. When it comes to conservative merchandise, the symbolism typically skews toward the tried-and-true formalism: American flags, eagles, heritage language and, as always, guns. Tucker’s merch is flipping that on its head.
Jacob Gallagher If I saw the “NYC” hat, with a hammer and sickle for the C, in Brooklyn, I’d probably never think it was made by Tucker and possibly purchased ironically.
Nathan Pemberton Tonally, it’s right in the internet’s sweet spot: suggestive, winking, outrageous. I could imagine some dissident Dimes Square resident wearing a hat that said “Sorry, I Thought You Were a Fed” to a bar.
Jacob Gallagher Much of it is trollish but ultimately toothless. It’s supposed to be provocative, I guess, but if you spend five minutes on X, you’ll see much worse.
This stuff feels like the wearable version of the “Red Apple” headline that The New York Post ran after Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor. The cover became a collector’s item among the city’s pro-Mamdani population (the denizens of the so-called “Commie Corridor”) while also speaking to The Post’s more right-leaning readers. So, is irony merch the thing that will actual unite America?
Nathan Pemberton Can merch bridge the ideological divide in this country? (Checking my notes to see how much the Harris-Walz camo hat was mocked in conservative media.) So, probably no, though everyone might be able to get what they want out of Tucker’s hats. But the irony of this merch, to me, points to a shift in younger people’s alliance with the politics of MAGA.
Jacob Gallagher As in, the younger, or, I guess, just edgier, maybe conservative base that listens to Tucker is more into a “Neocons Are Gay” hat than a MAGA hat now?
Nathan Pemberton MAGA politicians have been particularly adept at divining where their base stands, and Tucker has been a savant at reading the tea leaves. The disenchantment that young conservatives feel toward President Trump and the MAGA movement is real and increasing every day, as I’ve written about. What comes next is harder to say. But the glibness of a hat that says “I 
conspiracies” in the days after Tucker suggested, during a recent episode of his podcast, that the Hasidic movement Chabad influenced Trump’s decision to start the Iran War seems to capture the mood of suspicion quite accurately.
Jacob Gallagher The merch seems to capture the glibness of the right and the left right now. They’re both, for different reasons, perceiving the humor in a “NY Commie dad hat.” Tucker’s merch will play better in New York City than anywhere else. If you’re wearing a “Good Luck NY” tee (again, hammer and sickle on the C) in Wisconsin, who are you really speaking to? If you wear it in Manhattan, you’re winking at the joke yourself. And Tucker clearly knows that — and probably doesn’t care. As one of our colleagues said, “Dollars spent ironically are still green!”
Jacob Gallagher is a Times reporter covering fashion and style.
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