“Flags are the most powerful artifact ever designed. Graphic marks, instantly gain emotional weight when emblazoned on a piece of cloth.
“They’re powerful because they’re visible symbols of our identity. More than a cardboard sign, flags are dynamic. They communicate ideas quickly especially when hoisted to the heavens. This contributes to the effect of a bigger, more unified rally behind a cause.”
– Laura Scofield, graphic designer and member of the North American Vexillological Association
Those thousands of flags hoisted by Trump supporters at the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington D.C. on January 6 were, as a whole, a twisted “ideological quilt” for those who believe that the US election was stolen from Donald Trump. The banners symbolized bold aggression in the face of a peaceful transfer of power after a free and fair election.
Why do his supporters feel obligated to display the damned things as part of their belief in the Cult of Trump? After all, don't those large banners with metal poles have to be a pain in the ass to haul around all day at a rally or at a protest? Besides, why do they employ them more as angry battle pennants of war than as sacred symbols of conscience?
Supporting a false and lost cause, Trump's faithful proudly toted flags of all kinds – including banners of hate and violence – as they followed their leader's order and marched on the Capitol during that infamous day in January. In their hands, those flags seemed to take on the anger of the frenzied mob personifying the deadly goals of their insurrection. Racist, white supremacist, and extremist symbols pronounced the evil intent of the toxic mix. It was a sickening spectacle of violence. It was clearly insurrection.
Among the many flags spotted there were the following:
America First flag, QAnon flag, Upside-down American flag, Calvin Peeing on Biden flag, Republic of Kekistan flag, Three Percenters flag, Stop the Steal flag,Trump Rambo flag, Unleash the Kraken flag, and historical flags including Culpeper Minutemen (1775), Betsy Ross flag (1776), Gadsen flag (1777), Come and Take It flag (1835), and the Confederate Battle Flag (1863).
Excuse the French, but each sick, seditious movement and every quirky niche of right-wing America has a fucking flag. And most of those who carry these banners want to wave them in your face without regard for your feelings and even use their masts to beat you into submission. Envisioning these flags as marks of character, bad actors continue to debase the very material of their being while ripping apart the sacred fabric of American democracy.
Trump, a lover of political theater, employs flags as colorful symbols of his self-professed patriotism and his nationalistic leadership. In his uber-egotistical mind, flags bolster a manly image and help carry his vision of White warfare to the masses – they serve not only as a means of identification but also as rallying emblems for his showy, garish gatherings. Like a Nazi leader long ago, the juvenile leader loves a parade and a spectacle featuring might and power.
The Trump faithful also use banners to draw attention to their unquestioned loyalty for various causes that emphasize their penchant for deep partisan rifts. His supporters brandish flags to put on full display their vision of “Making This Country Great Again.” They insist that the United State is their country – no place for Black and Brown Americans – and that socialistic liberals want to take it away from them including their guns, their God, and their precious claims of predestined Manifest Destiny.
Why? Because they mindlessly play Follow the Leader to protect their own White fragility. Waving a flag makes them feel as if they are recognized as bold warriors, or ninjas, or some other kind of fantasy-driven bad asses. In reality, most of banners display a firm belief in fascism. The flag-waving Trump-patriot is primarily a far-right, authoritarian White ultra-national characterized by beliefs in dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.
Surveying the footage from the attack on the Capitol, artist-activist Mirko Ilić recognized several neo-Nazi symbols in the crowd. As curator of the Tolerance Project and a scholar on white supremacist iconography, he says watching the mayhem at the Capitol felt a bit like déjà vu.
Ilić, who was born in the former socialist republic of Bosnia, explains …
“This is how things started in Yugoslavia. White supremacists cling to fascist iconography because Hitler’s army demonstrated how potent flags can be when seen en masse.
“In my opinion, branding was truly invented by Nazi Germany. It was total design. We have to be vigilant about these symbols because they’re like tea leaves. You can see the future.”
(Anne Quito and Amanda Shendruk. “Decoding the flags and banners seen at the Capitol Hill insurrection.” Quartz. January 07, 2021.)
Trump also displays the American flag – our precious Old Glory – for pretentious effect. He and his loyal followers are jingoistic bullies – Love It or Leave It throwbacks – who preach liberty and loyalty as extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive, nationalistic policies. John H. Evans, a sociology professor at the University of California-San Diego, says …
“Trump and his supporters have also managed to shift the meaning of the flag itself. After all, he notes, there are also two ways to interpret the flag. It can be inclusive, representing a diverse group of people who unite behind a set of common principles. Or it can be exclusive, a symbol of nationalism – an 'us' in opposition to a less worthy or virtuous 'them.'
“Why would anybody risk their lives for an inanimate object? Because it’s a stand-in for the nation as a whole. Social scientists call that association “civil religion” – the worship of secular objects that represent a national ideal. Think the flag, the Liberty Bell and the original Constitution, written on parchment with quill.”
(Joanna Weiss. ‘Time For My Flag to Go Up’: How Anti-Trumpers Are Reclaiming the American Flag.” Politico. November 29, 2020.)
Trump has long envisioned himself as a defender of patriotic showmanship. Do you remember the following incident?
The town of Palm Beach, Florida, limits its flagpoles to a height of forty-two feet, and its flags to four-by-six feet. In 2006, Trump, at his private club there, Mar-a-Lago, erected a flagpole that stood eighty feet tall. He raised a flag that measured at least fifteen-by-twenty-five feet – a square footage greater than that of some New York City apartments.
Neighbors complained; Trump defied municipal orders to scale back, then sued the town for twenty-five million dollars, claiming infringement of his constitutional and civil rights. He reportedly argued that he needed such a mammoth flag in order to “appropriately express the magnitude” of his “patriotism.”
Paige Williams of The New Yorker, a National Magazine Award winner for feature writing, says …
“More than a hundred thousand dollars in municipal fines accrued. The press reported that Trump ultimately agreed to shorten the flagpole by ten feet and relocate it to a less visible spot, and to give a hundred thousand dollars to charitable causes, including a veterans’ organization. The Washington Post revealed, in 2016, that he paid these expenses using money from a nonprofit foundation funded with other people’s donations. The arrangement may have violated laws prohibiting 'nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves or their businesses,' the newspaper noted.”
(Paige Williams. “The Changing Meaning of the American Flag Under Trump.” The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-changing-meaning-of-the-american-flag-under-trump. October 14, 2020.)
In 2003, Woden Teachout, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, wrote a book, Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism, which explores how the American flag “moves from one meaning to another.”
Teachout associates the Trump-era use of the flag with a “rhetoric of threat and strength and defense. She said …
“The flag seems to serve as a kind of legitimacy for some of these groups in terms of how they think of themselves. Trump’s flag rhetoric rarely involves the language of sacrifice or shared purpose. It’s about fighting and winning.”
(Paige Williams. “The Changing Meaning of the American Flag Under Trump.” The New Yorker. October 14, 2020.)
Paige Williams also reported …
“The conflation of Trump and the flag has become so pervasive that progressives have reported feeling reluctant to buy property in areas rife with the flag. Just before the 2018 midterm elections, Bruce Watson, a writer living in western Massachusetts, lamented that liberals and progressives had 'shied away from the flag.' He warned that 'ceding the nation’s most enduring symbol to one party is just bad politics' and said the flag is 'the symbol of we, the people – including those who 'staunchly oppose the president’s policies and behavior.'
“Watson noted, 'Even if it festoons every Trump rally, the flag belongs to all of us.' What Teachout noted more than a decade ago holds true today: 'The story of the flag is a story of a country in search of itself.'”
(Paige Williams. “The Changing Meaning of the American Flag Under Trump.” The New Yorker. October 14, 2020.)
The American Flag belongs to all of us. No faction or group can usurp the meaning of the banner for its own purposes. When one aggregation does this and claims ownership of the ideals represented in its stars and stripes, they soil the canton and the field of the hallowed symbol. Shouldn't anyone who waves the national banner understand its intended symbolism?
No amount of supporters can overcome and take hostage the intended meaning of the Flag of the United States of America. The “Might Makes Right” philosophy of MAGA supporters is an anathema to American democracy. Our flag represents inclusion and an undying defense of all principles of democracy. It is not “owned” by any one faction of Americans just as the Capitol is not “owned” by hoodlums and anarchists.
The stripes that represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars that represent the 50 states of the Union belong to all regardless of their race, religion or political creed. Long live the Red – that symbolizes hardiness and valor – the White – that symbolizes purity and innocence – and the Blue – that represents vigilance, perseverance and justice. Diversity in unity is our strength. Lunatic-driven insurrection must be defeated.
Pardon me one last time as I close this entry.
The other despicable banners of lost history and of hate and violence employed in the “Stop the Steal” coup must be taken down and relegated to storage in their proper places – if they even have a bona fide setting at all. I'm sure many will continue to be displayed in the dirty backrooms of political criminals and far from the eye of true patriots.
Never again in our blessed nation should an angry, seditious mob wave them as instruments of treason. And, never again should anyone professing to be a patriot support a fucking, egotistical, lying autocrat bent on power and domination. His White nationalistic ass should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Only this just punishment will forever define him as the loser and the disgrace he is.
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