A Florida man has been arrested after spitting on a fellow bar patron wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, and telling him to “go back to Russia”.

Matthias Ajple, 43, has been accused of attacking Robert Youngblood, 67, at a bar in Vero Beach on Friday, and later telling police that he was willing to do so because he has “more time on this earth” than his Donald Trump supporting target.

“You should go back to Russia, you f****** communist,” Mr Ajple told Mr Youngblood, after smacking the brim of the MAGA hat he was wearing, according to a police report.

The incident was first reported by the crime website The Smoking Gun, which has identified Mr Ajple as a registered Democrat, and Mr Youngblood as a registered Republican.

Mr Ajple later told police that he thought the idea of going to jail was “exciting”, and that he thinks supporters of Mr Trump are “communist and racist”. He has been charged with one count of battery, and has been released on $500 bail.

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The hat in question has become a potent symbol for supporters of the president, after he made the merchandise famous while wearing it on the 2016 campaign trail.

But, Mr Trump’s detractors — who often note Mr Trump’s inflammatory language around race, and the rise in hate speech that has accompanied his meteoric rise to political power — see the garment as less a sign of a populist political movement, and one that symbolises a resurgence of America’s dark racist history.