this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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To add to what you said, the origin of the salute is related to headgear.
One potential origin of the salute is knights raising their faceguards, which obviously requires you to be wearing one. Another potential origin of the salute is the courtesy of removing your hat in the presence of a superior officer. You still see this (though mostly in period historical dramas) with the hat tip.
The military still retains that link, you're not supposed to salute while wearing your hat. For civilians, the equivalent respectful move is to remove your hat in certain situations. These days you mostly encounter that at a sporting event where people sometimes remove their hats during the national anthem.
So, for a president who isn't part of the military, the official protocol is probably to stand at attention while not wearing a hat. An acceptable modern alternative is to salute, and since hats are uncommon these days it's mostly to salute while not wearing a hat. Saluting while wearing a hat is probably a reasonable variation on that. A disrespectful move would be to wear a hat and not salute. Of course, the fact it's a MAGA campaign merch hat is disrespectful in itself.