Don’t even think about knitting a "Make America Great Again" hat.

The knitting and crocheting website Ravelry has banned support for President Trump and his administration, as of June 23.



We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. More details: https://t.co/hEyu9LjqXa — Ravelry (@ravelry) June 23, 2019



“We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy,” it announced in a tweet.

The details of the ban explain that you can’t support Trump in forums on the website, and you certainly can’t share that you’re knitting "MAGA" paraphernalia: “This includes support in the form of forum posts, projects, patterns, profiles, and all other content.”

If Ravelry wants to keep its site apolitical — which would make sense for a community of knitters — why not ban all political endorsements? Why allow such divisions within a community of knitters and crocheters, who presumably chose the hobby as a way to escape the stress of life, not to engage in angry political arguments?

But this isn’t about keeping politics out of a social community. It’s about signaling the virtue of condemning Trump and marginalizing his supporters by silencing their views.

To its credit, the website tries to ensure that the new policy isn’t used as a political tool: “Do not try to weaponize this policy by entrapping people who do support the Trump administration into voicing their support.”

But Ravelry writes that the issue is not Right vs. Left, but wrong vs. right: “We are definitely not banning conservative politics. Hate groups and intolerance are different from other types of political positions.”

Ravelry only minimizes white supremacy by lumping Trump and his entire administration in with its broad claim. The claim that the Trump administration advocates "open white supremacy" is both false and hyperbolic, akin to the claim that Democrats are the "party of death." Maybe the artist whose Facebook account was disabled for equating Trump with the KKK should post her art there instead. There may be fewer knitters doing so after this.