American exceptionalists got riled up this week after a young Home Depot employee wearing an “America was never great” hat became the target of death threats and racist attacks by Trump supporters.

Krystal Lake, 22, wore her new custom-made cap to work in a Staten Island last Sunday when a customer violated her privacy and posted his photo of her online.

Those Trump supporters who are privileged enough to have Sunday off had plenty of time to send her death threats and rage on the internet.

If you're #KrystalLake you could always live in a great country like North Korea. — #hodgster (@matth0dge) May 20, 2016

Lake, a Sanders supporter, bought the hat after being inspired by Trump’s own hat emblazoned with his slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

I wonder if those bitching about #krystallake thought america was great with slavery? or genocide? segregation? AIDS epidemic? — Jonathan Dye (@changingshades) May 20, 2016

“The message that other people are trying to send out is that, America’s this wonderful place, like nothing bad ever happened in the world, but it never was great so I feel like it was a lie, so I wanted to show people that, no, it never was great,” she told Staten Island Advance.

Lake received a torrent of abuse online, including death threats.

“I’ve been getting the N-word left and right,” she said.

@HomeDepot

Is This Home Depots Official Position ?

On Payroll In The Staten Island NY Store ?

Manager Approval ? pic.twitter.com/UOaai3jRb6 — 2ANow (@2ANow) May 18, 2016

“You need to go back to Africa, America was great when people like you weren’t here” was another popular outburst by an irate Trump fan.

#KrystalLake -Please move to Mexico BEFORE the wall is built!! You have shit coming out of your nose!! @HomeDepotpic.twitter.com/f3TIT0zRwc — Trump4Us (@Trump_OurVoice) May 20, 2016

@HomeDepot My father opened the first Florida HD stores and was a Vet. He is rolling in his grave because of Krystal Lake — Bryan Mowrey (@Bmowrey36) May 19, 2016

You all are just mad #KrystalLake doesn't agree with the white supremacy and the oppression of minorities that America considers great. 💁🏾 — Danae Alexandrea. (@DanaeAlexandrea) May 19, 2016

#krystallake is unamerican and an ugly heifer to boot. — The Catholic Trad (@dad_catholic) May 20, 2016

Lake called in sick to work Thursday, and although a manager called her to check on her, she expects she may be fired, the New York Times reports.

Trump supporters encouraged others to call Home Depot to complain and some called for a boycott using sexist and racist slurs.

@2ANow Definitely doesn’t represent HD’s opinion. Agree this isn’t appropriate and we wouldn’t allow it, but the store team didn’t see it. — The Home Depot (@HomeDepot) May 18, 2016

While it sucks to lose a job, she might be better off given Home Depot’s notorious record on worker safety and union busting.

A 2011 leaked video revealed how the company discourages employees from joining unions.

Leaked anti-union video from @HomeDepot instructs us that union dues are like taxes which is the equivalent of cancer. http://t.co/uSWJNGtg — Jay Schiavone (@jaytingle) November 24, 2011

One of its co-founders, Bernard Marcus, opposed both the Employee Free Choice Act, which he called “the demise of civilization,” and the Occupy Wall Street movement. He also said retailers that do not support Republican senators “should be shot” and “thrown out of their goddamn jobs.”

Lake says other employees have worn pro-Trump t-shirts and badges without comment.

"For the past two months, there have been a few people I work with wearing 'Vote for Trump' pins on their uniforms," she said. "But no one ever says anything to them."

@TrumpForVets@HomeDepot America. Why don't you guys call him out on it? — Chris Romeo (@romeroishere) May 20, 2016

Explaining what she doesn’t like about Trump – and why America isn’t “great” for everyone, Lake said, “If you’re not the race that he would want, or whether it’s sexual preference, if you have any disabilities, your financial status, race, everything, all of that combined, or even if you don’t think like him, he will automatically write you off.”

@HomeDepot@Bikers4Trump if you guys fire her that would be wrong. her hat was not offensive just disagreeable to some. — block game strong (@tilllaaa_) May 18, 2016

Lake insisted she just wanted the country to be better, “and having Trump as a president definitely wouldn’t make America better.”

A number of people expressed their support for Lake.

#AmericaWasNeverGreat in rejecting Jews in WWII, Slavery, TrailofTears, Jim Crow, Japanese Internment Camps.I support #KrystalLake's bravery — Craig Fox (@foxology) May 20, 2016

If you're offended by someone wearing a hat that says "America was Never Great," rethink your fucking life. #KrystalLake@HomeDepot — Nick (@OmniscientSpork) May 20, 2016

The backlash #KrystalLake is getting only further proves how messed up we truly are — carlitos (@cgo37) May 20, 2016

@MsElectLadyKim where can I buy that cap.. Truer words have never been written on a cap — havesomerespect (@vivian_terry) May 20, 2016

AMERICA WAS NEVER GREAT.



Cheers #KrystalLake for calling it like it is. — jessie gray singer (@jessiegraygray) May 20, 2016

Five reasons why some Americans think their country was never that great

1) WAR CRIMES

Yay! Let's support torture, & enable war crimes. Trump, by "making America great again", you are destroying America. https://t.co/yEPQ0bdHGp — George McCann (@GCMcCannMovies) March 4, 2016

Under Obama’s presidency alone, the US has bombed seven countries and killed hundreds of people including children.

@Chirpinagin That's as dumb as it gets. He proposes war crimes. He has NO substance. But you guys fall for "make America great" just like — _uptoolate_ (@_uptoolate_) March 11, 2016

Since World War II, the US has intervened in more than 20 different conflicts, including Korea, East Timor, Haiti, Chile, Nicaragua, & the Philippines. One estimate puts the total number of people killed by the US military since World War II at 20-30 million.





2) HEALTHCARE

Healthcare in America is a disaster. — NATE (@natecyph) April 5, 2016

In the words of Bernie Sanders: “Every other major country on earth guarantees health care to all people as a right, and they do it more cost effectively than we do.”

America is #oligarch disaster: only first-world country without healthcare, education. High infant mortality rate. High child poverty #tcot — RiskyLiberal (@RiskyLiberal) October 7, 2015

Instead, the US allows thousands of uninsured Americans die every year, as many as 45,000 based on a 2009 Harvard study, and there were still 28.6 million uninsured Americans in 2015, even after the “universal” Obamacare system was put in place.



3) SLAVERY

The hypocrisy is amazing. #NeverForget911 or the Holocaust. But American Indian genocide and African American slavery? Eh. — Lauren Bouvier (@_Elle_Spencer_) May 17, 2016

The US enslaved those of African descent for almost a century before it was abolished by Congress in 1865.

America will never be great & never has been great. A country founded off death & destruction of a race & slavery of another is not Great. — jeff (@JeffJustme222) March 28, 2016

Today, their descendants are still trapped in a cycle of poverty predicated by mass incarceration and the “new Jim Crow", and there are now more Black men in prison than were enslaved in 1850, according to Michelle Alexander.



4) GENOCIDE

@independent Well native American genocide and black slavery…so maybe she is right. — Prince David (@SorcererPrince) May 20, 2016

From germ warfare to bloody battles, European refugees and migrants who invaded North America wiped most of the indigenous population.

READ MORE: Dying Native American languages set for funding boost from US Senate

Those who survived were moved to inhospitable patches of land called “reservations”.

"Make america great again" when was it great? slavery? Jim Crow? Native American genocide? — jessikawaii (@jessicagravity) May 18, 2016

5) NUCLEAR ATTACK

If anyone is capable of starting a nuclear war, it's Donald Trump. America, what are you thinking of? https://t.co/FyZSUU47jj — Hannah Dexter (@hannahforest) May 18, 2016

The US remains the only nations to launch attacks with nuclear weapons, killing up to a quarter of a million people, most of them civilians, by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To this day, America has yet to apologize.

Hiroshima victims want Obama apology White House says they won't get: https://t.co/m4hfcv1o1bpic.twitter.com/ffGMMmNFby — The Hill (@thehill) May 19, 2016

Hiroshima atomic bomb victims want apology from Obama // How about an apology for WWII and Pearl Harbour? https://t.co/tprcU753lX — John M Knox (@johnmknox) May 19, 2016