Remember when then-Vice President Mike Pence organized a walkout at a football game because players knelt during the national anthem to protest racism, saying he wouldn't “dignify” disrespecting the flag? Or when President Trump said that anyone who kneels in protest should be fired or even deportee?
Such bursts of performative outrage were typical of the Trump years, when some of the world's most powerful politicians professed personal offense while others exercised their constitutional right to peacefully protest when they disagreed with the message.
But now that Trump supporters are using the inverted flag in protest, Republican leaders' outrage is nowhere to be seen.
Friday is Flag Day, when the nation commemorates the United States' adoption of the Stars and Stripes as its official flag 247 years ago.
It is a good occasion to remember that, although what one considers disrespectful of the American flag depends on personal and political opinions, we all have the constitutionally protected freedom to use the flag in any way we want.
Although the US Flag Code has an extensive section on respecting the flag that says it should never be displayed upside down, “except as a sign of extreme distress in cases of extreme danger to life or property,” is inapplicable. The code also says that the flag must never have “any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, image or drawing of any nature,” but that does not prevent anyone from displaying American flags adorned with political images, names, or slogans. like “Let’s Make America Great Again” and “Let’s Go Brandon.”
The use of the American flag to protest has deep roots. It was trampled and burned by Southerners to protest Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. It was displayed upside down by anti-slavery activists in the 19th century, by Vietnam War protesters in the 1960s, and during the 2020 racial equity protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.
But more recently, the far right has embraced the inverted flag as a symbol of election denial and loyalty to Trump, a fact that gained new prominence after revelations that it was flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in the weeks that followed. the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
Alito blamed his wife, Martha-Ann, saying he was hanged as part of a dispute with his neighbors, who had posted an anti-Trump sign in their yard. By that time, Trump supporters had begun using the inverted flag to signal his support for the “Stop the Steal” effort. Capitol rioters carried it during the Jan. 6 insurrection as they attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and Trump supporters continue to fly flags upside down, including to protest his felony conviction in the money trial in silence in New York last month.
After Trump was found guilty on 34 charges, Republican leaders such as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump and Donald Trump Jr. shared images of upside-down flags online. She flew in front of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. And others warned on social media of an upcoming “civil war” or posted “RIP America.”
Old Glory is a charged symbol, and Americans' relationship with it changes dynamically with the times and political winds, from its triumphant elevation over the remains of Ft. Sumter in 1865 to the aggressively patriotic display of American flags that emerged after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
We live in a seemingly free country, and anyone, even a Supreme Court justice (or his wife), has the right to fly the Star-Spangled Banner upside down or even burn it if they so choose. Both rights were confirmed as protected symbolic speech by the Supreme Court.
But it is pure hypocrisy to denounce that others engage with the flag in protest only to do the same and call it patriotism.
