Seattle Leftists Plan To Take Trump’s Bait And Burn American Flags

Ah, Seattle. If there is anything you can depend on the Emerald City for, it is knee-jerk reactionary anti-anything-Trump-wants-to-do.

Let’s set the scene. Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order entitled “Prosecuting Burning The American Flag.”

Now, the reaction from the conservatives varied. While some will support Trump no matter what, others were busy quoting Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia ruled with the majority in Texas v. Johnson in 1989, finding that burning the American flag was “symbolic speech” that was constitutionally protected First Amendment, and explained his reasoning years later, in 2015.

Scalia said as a jurist who believes in a pure texualist reading of the Constitution, he has made some tough calls in his career, especially in free-speech cases where his vote went against his personal principles.

“If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag,” Scalia said. “But I am not king.”

Reasonable Republicans will continue to debate and disagree on this topic until probably the end of forever.

Few things:

1) Antonin Scalia was a great Supreme Court Justice and a genuinely kind and decent person.

2) The President’s EO is consistent with Texas v. Johnson.

3) Texas v. Johnson was wrong and William Rehnquist was right.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 26, 2025

If you look at the language of the executive order, it is written in such a way that it acknowledges the SCOTUS ruling in Texas v. Johnson, but attempts to split hairs regarding “incitement.”

The American Flag is a special symbol in our national life that should unite and represent all Americans of every background and walk of life. Desecrating it is uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot. American Flag burning is also used by groups of foreign nationals as a calculated act to intimidate and threaten violence against Americans because of their nationality and place of birth.

Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s rulings on First Amendment protections, the Court has never held that American Flag desecration conducted in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action or that is an action amounting to “fighting words” is constitutionally protected. See Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 408-10 (1989).

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.

The Attorney General shall prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible of our Nation’s criminal and civil laws against acts of American Flag desecration that violate applicable, content-neutral laws, while causing harm unrelated to expression, consistent with the First Amendment. This may include, but is not limited to, violent crimes; hate crimes, illegal discrimination against American citizens, or other violations of Americans’ civil rights; and crimes against property and the peace, as well as conspiracies and attempts to violate, and aiding and abetting others to violate, such laws.

To my decidedly not-a-lawyer eyeballs, this EO is tasking prosecutors with finding ways to legally go after those who burn flags for any other violation of the law, especially if they are doing so during a riot. Only time and lawyers will determine whether those charges can successfully stick.

But is Trump’s intent really to chill free expression, or is it to create the optics that are surely to come with the predictable knee-jerk reactions from the left? After all, if the left starts burning flags, how will footage of that NOT end up in every single Republican ad during the next election cycle? Noah Rothman of National Review is of the opinion that this entire EO is “bait” – and the left is going to take it.

Those who have taken the time to peruse Donald Trump’s executive order on “Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag” know that it does not, in fact, recommend the federal prosecution of those who burn or are otherwise “desecrating” the flag. Instead, it notes that the Justice Department will take actions “consistent with the First Amendment,” which has been found by the Supreme Court to protect activities like flag burning. Indeed, only if acts of flag desecration amount to incitement to violence (which would be a high hurdle to clear in a courtroom) or if the flag-burner is engaged in other criminal behaviors are offenders likely to be prosecuted.

There is just a lot less to this initiative than the heavy breathing that it has inspired among the executive orders critics and supporters alike would lead observers to believe. Indeed, the reaction to this order seems so divorced from its black-and-white text that we can probably conclude that inspiring impassioned reactions was the whole point of the exercise.

Trump has every reason to believe that he is possessed of mesmeric powers over Democrats. Whether it’s his sheer force of personality or the oppositional defiance disorder that ails the American political class, he’s right; it just doesn’t take much Republican goading to get Democrats to take actions that run counter to their political interests.

After reminding the readers of how Democrats have reacted to both federal law enforcement in Washington DC and redistricting in Texas, Rothman concludes:

So, why wouldn’t Trump conclude that his order banning flag burning will beget a ton of flag burning? That’s what you would expect if you’ve observed the progressive activists to whom the Democratic Party’s leading lights are hopelessly beholden. What better way to express uncompromising opposition to the president’s authoritarian subversion of the Constitution and his disrespect for Supreme Court precedent than to show that he is a paper tiger? Do your worst, Mr. President, they will aver as they do theirs.

Now, you would think that this is a bridge too far. Democrats with any institutional memory will remember that the GOP has demagogued legal protections on flag burning for political gain in the past. Those who lack that memory might still be counted on to consider how their conduct reflects on themselves and their movement, and flag-burning is never a good look. Well, maybe, but all of that requires some strategic thought and the ability to delay emotional gratification. We haven’t seen much of that from Democrats in the Trump era.

So, yes, it’s likely that Trump’s executive order is a political enterprise. Trump is betting that his contempt for America’s legal traditions will pay off when Democrats take his bait. Honestly, at this point, Trump’s is not even that much of a gamble.

Predictably, the left is proving Rothman correct. One man has already been arrested while burning an American flag in Washington DC – but not for the actual flag burning.

The U.S. Secret Service told The Hill they detained a person at approximately 6:15 p.m. Monday in Lafayette Park “for igniting an object” and turned the person over to the U.S. Park Police, which has jurisdiction.

The Park Police said it arrested one person in the park at about 6:30 p.m., citing a violation of 36 CFR 2.13(a)(1), which prohibits fire in public parks, except in designated areas.

And even more predictably, the leftists of Seattle are planning an entire flag burning protest. Yes, they are swallowing the bait – hook, line, and sinker.
https://twitter.com/thehoffather/status/1960197405418103288
Yes, Cal Anderson Park was indeed the location of the CHAZ/CHOP encampment of 2020, and it has been claimed by Seattle leftists as their personal park – to the point that they protest and complain if any other group contrary to leftist political dogma is allowed to use the park, and the Seattle mayor (who tried bending the knee to the left, but is currently getting crushed in the polls by a socialist – familiar story, right?) blamed a Christian church for daring to use the park for a worship concert. And because Seattle chooses to cater to the left, another concert was moved out of Cal Anderson Park to a different park, just because the mayor didn’t want the political headache.

If this “mass flag burning” event happens in Cal Anderson Park, will Seattle police do anything about it? Nope. Will the fire department be on hand? Possibly. Will these idiots film themselves and proudly post the videos all over social media that they have Done Something™ to stand up to President Trump? Absolutely. Do these fools realize they are taking the bait? Not a chance. Prepare yourselves for a lot of “resistance” flag burnings that will be videotaped, and then used in campaign ads for the “normies” to see – and they will draw their own conclusions about which side seems more “reasonable.”

Featured image via LioPhotography on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license

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