When President Trump signed his August 25th executive order setting guidelines under which burning an American flag can be prosecuted, we quickly learned how ignorant his critics are about the constitutional and cultural implications of desecrating this revered national symbol. Indeed, it appears that very few of these people actually read the President’s EO. It does not, as most Democrats and alleged experts insist, violate the 1989 Supreme Court ruling in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is protected speech under the First Amendment.
How did the country arrive at a place in which a flag for which countless Americans have … died can be routinely desecrated without punishment while burning a flag that symbolizes mere sexual preference can land you in prison?
The crucial passage on that point reads as follows: “My Administration will act to restore respect and sanctity to the American Flag and prosecute those who incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country, to the fullest extent permissible under any available authority.” In other words, Trump’s executive order authorizes the Department of Justice and local authorities to take action against any person who violates “applicable, content-neutral laws” while burning or otherwise desecrating the American flag.
And flag burning is almost always accompanied by violations of existing laws. If someone sets a flag — or anything else — ablaze in the street or in a public park, they can be arrested for violating open burning restrictions or even arson. Anyone causing property damage while burning a flag can be prosecuted, particularly if the destruction occurs on private or restricted government property. Finally, if a flag burning is conducted in a manner intended to incite violence or that amounts to “fighting words,” the perpetrator is subject to arrest.
Trump’s critics are not merely ignorant about the implications of his EO, they are transparently hypocritical. The very people who denounce prosecuting those who burn the American flag insist that anyone who burns a so-called pride flag must be severely punished. As this is being typed, a man is serving a 15-year prison sentence for that very offence. As recently as June of this year, a group of teens ranging from 16 to 18-years-old were arrested for causing damage to “pride flags” and defacing “rainbow crosswalks” in Atlanta. NBC News reports:
Two 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old from Dallas, Georgia, were taken into custody, in addition to a 16-year-old from Taylorsville. Police said all four were also charged with obstruction, criminal damage to property, conspiracy, and prowling … Georgia’s hate crime law, passed in 2020, allows a court to impose additional prison time or fines when a judge or jury finds that a crime was motivated by the victim’s race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or other characteristics.
Such arrests are by no means unusual where symbols of LGBTQ+ communities are concerned. Yet arrests for the increasing number of American flags that are publicly burned are all but unheard of. One exception involves a self-identified veteran named Jay Carey, who decided to exercise his right to 15 minutes of fame by setting an American flag aflame in Lafayette Park. He was arrested for lighting a fire on federal property, not for burning the flag. Yet the corporate media have portrayed him as a social justice warrior speaking truth to power.
Newsweek ran a particularly nauseating story in which they describe him thus: “Carey served in the Army for more than 20 years, and was deployed to Kuwait, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan before retiring as a Sergeant First Class. As well as a Bronze Star, he received numerous medals including two Meritorious Service Medals, eight Army Commendation Medals, and six Army Achievement Medals.” In an interview with Newsweek he said that his stunt “surely riled the president.” He then described what inspired his act of derring-do:
I saw on some social media feeds during lunch that Trump had signed an executive order outlawing the burning of the U.S. flag, which is a direct violation of our First Amendment rights within the Constitution. He doesn’t have the right to do that. Presidents don’t make law, and Congress will make no law that infringes upon our rights in accordance with the First Amendment. So I realized that I needed to, that day, go and burn a flag in front of the White House to have the biggest impact.
Carey’s service to the country is to be commended, of course, yet it is blindingly obvious that he hasn’t read Trump’s EO as closely as he perused the sagacious effusions he found on social media. As to the “courage” he displayed in Lafayette Park, it would be interesting to see what would happen if he cruised over to Adams Morgan or Dupont Circle and ostentatiously set a Pride flag on fire. It isn’t illegal to do so if he owns the flag, yet it’s extremely unlikely that he would be applauded by the residents or lionized by the corporate media.
Indeed, it’s likely that he would end up facing charges for inciting a riot or, at the very least, committing a hate crime. This brings us to the burning question alluded to above: How did the country arrive at a place in which a flag for which countless Americans have fought and died can be routinely desecrated without punishment while burning a flag that symbolizes mere sexual preference can land you in prison for well over a decade? The answer is elusive, but it’s hard to argue that it’s a healthy development. Trump seems to get that.
READ MORE from David Catron:
Karma Comes Calling for John Bolton