After former President Donald Trump’s 34-count felony conviction this week, right-wing supporters have adopted the upside-down American flag, a traditional sign of distress, as a symbol—but the flag has been utilized from both right and left causes in recent years, from Jan. 6 rioters to Black Lives Matter protesters.
An upside-down American flag, a distress symbol embraced by Republicans following former President ... [+]
Use of the upside-down flag has been ubiquitous since Trump’s conviction, from his son Donald Trump Jr., daughter-in-law and Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), who all shared images of the distress symbol.
It follows reports that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home hung the controversial symbol after the Jan. 6 2021 riots.
But the flag has become commonplace in the past decade at protests over government policy—on both the left and the right.
The flag made a recent appearance at a Washington D.C. protest led by left-wing advocacy group ... [+]
An upside-down American flag is seen beside a “Let’s Go Brandon” banner in a residential backyard in ... [+]
The flag was carried upside-down in Washington D.C. after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision ... [+]
A protester holds the flag in Washington D.C. after the Dobbs decision.
In Lakenheath, England, a protester displays the flag in opposition to a 2022 U.S. proposal to store ... [+]
In Washington D.C., the flag was flown after Politico reported a leaked majority opinion to overturn ... [+]
The flag was used at a right-wing Justice for J6 rally, supporting those arrested in the Jan. 6 ... [+]
A protester holds the flag at the Justice for J6 rally.
In Brooklyn Center, Minn., the flag was used at a police protest, following the death of Duante ... [+]
The flag appears in Olympia, Washington, following President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
At the Utah State Capitol, the flag is shown at a state National Guard protest supporting Trump’s ... [+]
An Atlanta election protester holds the flag.
A Black Lives Matter protest in Washington D.C. shows the flag flown high.
It was used at another Black Lives Matter event in Queens, New York.
It was also used displaying “Black Lives Matter” at a June 2020 protest in Manhattan.
The flag appears at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Washington D.C.
In London, a protester held the flag ahead of Trump’s planned state visit in June 2019.
The flag was used in Toronto, Canada, in an environmental protest against the planned (and ... [+]
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A New York Times report last month found Alito flew the upside-down flag outside his residential home in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2021, just over a week after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, sparking increasing calls from Democrats for recusal on pending Jan. 6 related cases. A follow-up Times report appeared to show Alito displayed another flag used by Jan. 6 rioters at his New Jersey house in 2021, this time a Revolutionary War-era “Appeal To Heaven” symbol that has been adopted by evangelical conservatives, once again prompting recusal pleas. Alito, a conservative justice nominated by former President George W. Bush, rejected those calls for recusal. In a letter to Congress on Wednesday, Alito claimed his wife flew the flags and that he had “no involvement” in the matter, arguing he should not have to recuse himself. Alito claimed in that letter he was not aware the flag had been flown until it was “called to [his] attention, at which point he said he asked his wife Martha-Ann Bomgardner to take it down.