Donald Trump attended his New York criminal sentencing sitting without shame in front of two American flags, branding his felony conviction with patriotism. Trump takes control of the White House on January 20^th after already taking the House, the Senate … and the American flag.
  Trump has literally and figuratively embraced the flag as the symbol of his drive for power while presenting himself as the one true patriot. He has taken a symbol of national unity and used it to divide.
  Trump, the flag, patriotism, and his party have all become one. Stages at his appearances are lined with flags and sometimes he even stops to hug the flag as though no one can love it as he does.
    The American flag has become the flag of Trump Republicanism. You can’t be a flag-waving patriot unless you wave it for Trump. The president-elect’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, wears an American flag pocket square and socks adorned with the flag. The former race car driver Danica Patrick said during a recent podcast interview that:  “Don’t you guys find it amazing that you can say, ‘I love this country,’ and it means you’re a Republican? That you can wear an American flag, and it means you’re Republican.”
  During the campaign season Trump’s adoring crowds wore shirts and cowboy hats decorated with flag designs. You can buy a t-shirt with the numbers “45” and “47” in flag motif and a Trump “Take America Back” flag with striped red, white, and blue lettering. The American flag is still regularly displayed along with “Trump 2024” signs and waved from the back of pickup trucks. The bigger the flag, the bigger the Trumpy.
  The American flag is the most distinguished and recognizable flag in the world. Describe, if you can, the flags of Egypt, Germany, or India. Many national flags have little distinction. France has vertical blocks of blue, white, and red. The Netherlands, right next door, has horizontal blocks of red, white, and blue. 
  All those flags have meaning to their countries, but none so specific as our own red, white and blue stripes that represent the original 13 colonies and the stars that stand for the 50 states. It is a flag that represents unity … “e pluribus unum” … “out of many, one.”
  Love us or hate us, the world recognizes the American flag. When they see it, they know it represents America. Here at home, it has come to represent Trump. He has branded the flag just as he has commemorative coins, golden sneakers, and the Bible. Many Americans who do not support Trump are afraid to display the flag for fear of being taken for one of his Trumpies.
  In his campaign for the presidency Trump promised to “Take back America ” … from the rest of America. Trump won the presidency, but the rest of America should take back the flag and say, “This belongs to all of us.”

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