Setting the First Amendment on Fire
Also: Kristi Noem and Alex Padilla
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Setting the First Amendment on Fire
On Tuesday, speaking before a group of soldiers at the newly-renamed Ft. Bragg, President Donald Trump announced that he wants people who burn the American flag at a protest to receive a year in prison as punishment. Unfortunately, the soldiers behind him applauded.
"You should get a one-year jail sentence if you do anything to desecrate the American flag," Trump said. "Now, people will say, 'Oh, it's unconstitutional.' Those are stupid people. Those are stupid people that say that."
This is hardly the first time Trump has proposed such a penalty. And for many years, burning the American flag was punishable in most states.
However, in 1989 and 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag is protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution. Joining the liberals on the court in the 5-4 decisions were Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia.
You might remember that Trump was elected in 2016 to his first term in part because of his promise to appoint Supreme Court Justices like Scalia. Since then, of course, Trump has butted heads with actual judicial conservatives, prompting him to denounce the Federalist Society. Republican policy is now whatever Trump desires, that’s the new philosophical position of the party.
At a public appearance after the Supreme Court decision, Scalia (as he did so often) perfectly explained why it is necessary to protect flag burning as a form of protest.
"If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag," he said in a speech in Philadelphia. "But I am not king."
But the man who would be king, or a dictator, who apparently thinks himself smarter than Scalia, even went a step further by announcing that if there were protesters at his parade on Saturday, they would be met with force.
“For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Trump said to reporters on Tuesday at the White House. “And I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
Ironically, the military parade in Washington D.C. on Saturday, besides being a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army, is also Flag Day. (It’s also Trump’s birthday.*) On what should be a bipartisan holiday celebrating the American values the flag is supposed to represent, we’re marching troops through the streets of the Capitol and the president is promising violence to any who oppose him publicly.
It’s not enough that the Trump Administration has actively sought to silence critics with lawsuits and retribution, such as when his former pal Elon Musk spoke out. Nor was it enough when media organizations just caved in to the president rather than defend their journalists.
We’re getting what Trump always wanted. Violence. Theater. The real potential for bloodshed. Trump once wanted to shoot protesters during his first term. He had to settle for tear-gassing peaceful protesters outside the National Cathedral so he could pose for a photo-op with a Christian Bible (probably inspired by Richard III). He encouraged his supporters to attack hecklers at his rallies. He even fantasized about letting the police have one day when they would be free to violently attack suspected criminals.
And, of course, there was January 6, when Trump encouraged the violence, refused to call it off, and later called it, “a day of love.” If he had his way, Trump would have been at the Capitol as his supporters tore down the American flag and used it as a weapon. They proudly replaced it with the Trump campaign flag while they paraded with the Confederate Battle Flag through the Capitol, something Robert E. Lee could only dream about during the Civil War. When he was given the second term, Trump pardoned the insurrectionists, even those who assaulted police officers, and rewarded Ashli Babbit’s family with a generous financial settlement.
So should any of them get a year in prison? The ones that used flag poles to assault police officers or as battering rams on the doors of the Capitol? What about the ones who tore down the American flag in the Capitol to replace it with the Trump campaign flag? Can we punish the protesters that flew the flag upside down while threatening to hang the vice president? Should we send the wife of Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito to jail for flying the American flag upside down to protest the result of the 2020 presidential election? Surely those are desecrations worse than any protester simply burning a flag, right?
Should we fine and sentence the president himself to a year in prison for his desecration of the American flag? Because when we’re celebrating the American flag, we’re celebrating everything it stands for. It was, until Trump, a symbol of freedom. But Trump has undermined everything good the flag stood for around the world: our democratic values, our benevolence, our support for freedom around the globe, and our place as a refuge from the worst despots of the world.
The American flag is not a symbol of power of kings, with mighty armies marching through the capitol, something even the Roman Republic forbade. It’s a symbol of liberty, of the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the law of our Constitution.
Yes, burning the flag is wrong. But let’s continue to protect the right to burn the flag, a right found in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. First, because it is so important. Let us instead focus on defeating those who would undermine the rest of the Constitution so our flag can be a proud symbol of freedom again. That would be the best way to honor the American flag.
Noem’s Guards and Senator Padilla
On Thursday, we all saw the video of Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) being dragged out of a press conference for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Padilla attempted to introduce himself and ask a pointed question, but was tackled by law enforcement, pulled into a nearby hallway, put on the ground, and handcuffed. Eventually he was released without any charges against him.
The administration attempted to lie by claiming Padilla was lunging towards Noem and did not identify himself, lies that were exposed when the video of the incident became public.
Yes, it was a stunt by Padilla to try to disrupt the press conference, but so what? Wasn’t she there to answer questions anyway?
David Frum of The Atlantic suggested a better way for Noem to have handled the incident:
"I see my friend Senator Padilla has joined us. Do you mind if I finish my previous answer, then I'll address your question. Do we have a seat in front for Senator Padilla?"
I’m reminded of a press conference Governor Scott Walker held that was disrupted by a publicity-seeking Democratic official, Outagamie County Executive Thomas Nelson. Walker was there to speak about tourism, but Nelson tried to make a point about Obamacare. The stunt backfired on Nelson, in part because he looked obnoxious, in part because Walker was prepared. It also helped Walker that he was speaking into the microphones in front of him while Nelson could barely be heard.
Walker didn’t have the state patrol or the local sheriffs drag Nelson to the ground. Instead, Walker dealt with the interruption and Nelson looked like an idiot. Nelson never climbed any higher in politics after his little stunt.
Noem could never be that prepared. This is a person who got her job by bragging about shooting her dog. She recently flew down to El Salvador to pose with prisoners there in a photo op reminiscent of Abu Ghraib.
But that wasn’t the point. The Trump Administration is looking to provoke incidents like the takedown and handcuffing of Padilla. It’s the pattern: arrest a judge in Milwaukee, indict a congressman in New Jersey for attempting to inspect a federal ICE facility with the local mayor, and now tackling a U.S. Senator.
The National Guard as an Occupying Army
If the National Guard wasn’t really needed to restore order in Los Angeles, why did Trump activate the Guard, and why did Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth call in 700 U.S. Marines to join the effort?
Noem herself, as Padilla was being handcuffed and taken away, explained the real purpose for the Trump Administration’s activation of the National Guard in California:
“We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to do to this city.”
It’s about the politics, and it’s coming to a city near you, too. The National Guard will be used as an occupying army, according to Noem, to liberate the cities from the Democrats.
Where would she get such an idea? From Trump himself, who said just last October:
“I always say, we have two enemies … We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within, and the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia, and all these countries … We have some very bad people; we have some sick people, radical-left lunatics. And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the National Guard—or, if really necessary, by the military.”
They’re going to fight the enemy within, and to Hell with the Constitution.
Flag Day Protests
I’m going to leave everyone with this thought:
Saturday is Flag Day. I know the Democrats won’t listen to me but leave the Mexican flags at home when you’re protesting this weekend. Fly the American flag instead. Give everyone who is marching an American flag to wave. They should be showing the rest of the country that their fight against Trumpism isn’t the fake patriotism of a military parade on Our Dear Leader’s Birthday. Real patriotism is standing up for the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law.
Go ahead, bring the giant puppets. But leave the Mexican flags at home. Leave the Che Guevara t-shirts and banners at home, too.
Regardless, keep the protests peaceful. Don’t give Trump and his minions a reason to resort to violence, and don’t give the public watching on television at home a reason to fear the protests.
I know it’s fun to burn cars and commit senseless vandalism. “It’s just property.” I know you want to fly the Mexican flag to celebrate the ethnic pride of the marchers. But it won’t be fun when J.D. Vance or Donald Trump Jr. is elected president, and you certainly won’t be celebrating.