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A MAGA supporter has sparked outrage in a Massachusetts town for projecting an edited version of The Punisher skull logo wearing Donald Trump’s hair.
The day after the Republican nominee triumphed in the 2024 election, an image associated with the popular comic book character topped with the president-elect’s well-known hairstyle was displayed on a water tower in the Town of Hanson.
Bright floodlights have since been brought in to illuminate the tower and prevent the orange logo from being visible.
“Earlier today, the Town of Hanson discontinued measures put in place to block a political image being projected onto a Town-owned water tower,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said in a statement on Wednesday (November 6), according to local news channel NBC10 Boston.
“Regrettably, the party involved in the image projection resumed projecting today and as a result we have had to yet again take measures to block the projected image.”
In October, the same resident, who officials have not publicly identified, had projected a “Trump 2024” sign on the water tower.
The resident was reportedly sent a cease and desist letter at the time by officials for violating town bylaws, which prohibit “the display of political symbols or signage on government property” as the town “does not endorse any political candidate, party or platform in any election.”
While the resident is said to have agreed to take down the initial “Trump 2024” signage, they refused to sign a pledge agreeing not to project onto the water tower again.
“The Town is duty-bound to enforce those bylaws and is committed to taking whatever action is necessary to prevent future violations,” Green added.
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The small town, located 20 miles south of Boston, skewed red in the 2024 presidential election, with Trump receiving 54.7 percent of the votes compared to 43.5 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris, per official election results.
The menacing skull logo made popular by the Marvel Punisher comics has in recent years been embraced by far-right extremist groups, including white nationalists and the neo-fascist Proud Boys.
It was a symbol worn by several January 6 rioters who stormed The Capitol following the 2020 presidential election.
It is also an emblem adopted by police who opposed Black Lives Matter protestors in 2020. The Punisher creator Gerry Conway later encouraged fans to help him reclaim the symbol.
“I’m looking for young comic-book artists of color who’d like to participate in a small fundraising project for #BLM to reclaim the Punisher skull as a symbol of justice rather than lawless police oppression,” Conway tweeted in June 2020.
“As to the debate over whether the Punisher symbol can ever be a symbol for justice – I agree that’s an open question,” he added.
“What it must *not* be is a symbol of oppression. I want to deny police the use of the symbol by claiming it for BLM. Call it irony.”
