Free Speech, Justice, Politics

Flag Burning Is Settled Law, So Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

You can't desecrate what the American flag stands for more than Trump did on Twitter.

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Trump FlagThis weekend, my neighbor across the street started getting up his holiday decorations. Part of his set-up is to drape an American flag over his balcony, wreathed in lights. That never bothered me before. But now, I feel like Trump, Trumpkins, and the American police have conspired to make the American flag feel dirty. They’ve reclaimed this symbol of freedom, and turned it into a symbol of oppression and fear. Never in my life would I have considered burning an American flag — that’s always seemed like a stunt to me, more than a statement. When my neighbor unfurled his banner, well, that’s what struck me: he took out “his” banner, not “our” flag.

Then I thought about going over to his house and doing this.

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And that was before President-elect Palpatine Tweeted this.

When you think about it, you can’t desecrate what the American flag stands for much more than Trump does with this tweet. It’s one thing to light a piece of cloth on fire. Trump here is setting a core American principle aflame.

It’s not just that flag burning has been upheld as protected speech. It’s not just that trying to squelch free expression is a bigger affront to America than taking a knee during the national anthem. That would be bad enough, but getting pissy about the flag is the kind of banal evil Republicans are often willing to participate in.

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But here, Trump goes further and threatens to revoke citizenship of Americans. Over a speech act. Think about that. He’s essentially threatening banishment, as a punishment, for behavior he doesn’t like.

I had to look up Afroyim v. Rusk. There, the Supreme Court affirmed that Congress had no power to essentially overrule the 14th Amendment and divest people of their citizenship. Beys Afroyim was born in Poland, became a naturalized U.S. citizen, but voted in the Israeli elections. They tried to strip him of his American citizenship, but the courts said no. And now, America is pretty cool with dual citizenship, because we’re not so needy and pathetic that we need constant affirmation from our people that we are their one and only love.

At least, we used to not be that pathetic.

As Trump has shown throughout his political career, the American principle he hates most is citizenship. HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THAT CONCEPT. He seems to have literally no respect for people who “obtained” citizenship: if you gave him three guesses, he couldn’t tell you what “naturalized” means. And he doesn’t get the core concept of “birthright” citizenship.

In Trumpworld, he knows who the “real citizens” are. [Spoiler Alert: They tend to be white.] Everybody else, he seems to think, is here on some kind of hustle. Some kind of con.

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His attack on and disregard for citizenship is the thread that links his entire political rise to power. He started by questioning the citizenship of Barack Obama, continued by threatening to literally wall off Mexicans from reaching the country, flourished by deciding Muslims should not be granted the full protections of citizenship, and now this.

We can expect four years of attack after attack on the very principle of American citizenship. Who knows where we’ll be when we’re done. But we can expect that at least in practice, if not in law, there will be two classes of citizenship by 2020: one for people who “look like” citizens to Trump’s eyes, and one for those who do not. He’ll try to keep the former in line by threatening to cast them down with the latter.

That’s why the American flag no longer seems to stand for anything good. The rights and liberties the flag represents are supposed to extend to everybody under its banner. It’s supposed to be a shield. Trump uses it like a sword, to cleave “real” Americans from those who believe in plurality, diversity, and liberty for all men AND women REGARDLESS of race, color, OR CREED.

I feel bad for my neighbor. I think he was in the foreign service or something. I’m sure there were many holidays where his flag lighting was a source of pride and a reminder of home. He’s never lit a menorah or thrown up a baby Jesus out on his lawn, but he dolls up his aged flag real nice. I hate what Trump has done to his celebration.

But Trump won. And his relentless attacks on our ideals are only just beginning. If my neighbor can stay on his side of the street and still see value in the flag, I have no quarrel with him. But I cannot join. On my side of the street, I’ll have a star-spangled bonfire before I accept Trump’s version of America.

If you want to see more flag burning, go ahead and make it “illegal.” I’ll buy a new one every day of the holidays just so I can show my neighbors the proper way to light up a flag in Trumpworld.

Trump suggests loss of citizenship or jail for those who burn U.S. flags [Washington Post]

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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