A bizarre trend is sweeping the Republican National Convention in the US after the attempted shooting of candidate Donald Trump.

The former president was apparently shot in the ear by a 20-year-old gunman while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday.

The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get within 135 metres of the stage where Trump was speaking when he opened fire.

That is despite a threat on Trump’s life from Iran leading to additional security for the former president in the days before the rally.

A bloodied Trump was rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents, and agency snipers killed the shooter.

Rally attendee, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was killed while  two others – David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74 – were wounded. Both are now in stable conditions.

Trump said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting. His campaign said he had been treated at a local medical facility.

Trump backed up claims of his injury in his appearance at the RNC in Milwaukee earlier this week, when he sported a large bandage covering one ear.

Ear bandages are the “latest trend” at this week’s Republican National Convention. Photo: Getty

Now, supporters are showing their solidarity with Trump by bandaging their own ears.

On the second night of the convention, several delegates and attendees were seen wearing makeshift “bandages” – from folded-up slips of paper to pieces of tape – on their ears.

Among them was Arizona delegate Joe Neglia. He told CBS News he folded up an envelope “on the bus on the way here” to wear on his right ear.

“This is the newest fashion trend. I’m getting this going. Everybody in the world is going to be wearing these pretty soon,” Neglia said.

Stacey Goodman, another Arizona delegate with a piece of paper over her ear, said it was worn “in solidarity with my president, Trump, not the current thing that’s in the administration”.

But the trend wasn’t just limited to delegates. Conservative radio hosts Steve Johnson and Kenny Webster shared a photo of themselves wearing bandages and said they were selling the “official MAGA ear patch” merchandise online.

Who wants an official MAGA ear patch? Available now on our websitehttps://t.co/es7byCclKC pic.twitter.com/6ImKUtNPE3

— The W&J Show w/ Kenny Webster (@WaltonNJohnson) July 16, 2024

One woman styled her bandage with a cowboy hat and a red lanyard. Outside the convention, a man dressed in an Uncle Sam costume donned a fake ear bandage while performing God Bless the USA on harmonica.

The Trump campaign has not officially announced what the former president was treated for following Saturday’s shooting.

However, The New York Times reports his former doctor, Ronny Jackson, saying a bullet took off part of Trump’s ear in an area that “bleeds like crazy”.

“The dressing’s bulked up a bit because you need a bit of absorbent. You don’t want to be walking around with bloody gauze on his ear,” Jackson said.

Trump, 78, has not yet spoken at the Republican National Convention.

His speech to formally accept the nomination as the party’s candidate in November’s presidential election is due on Thursday night (US time).