Authoritarian' Trump slammed after proposing 1-year jail sentence for flag burning: 'What next?'
With its 5-4 decision in Texas v. Johnson in 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the U.S. flag is constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment. And the five-justice majority ranged from liberal Thurgood Marshall to Richard Nixon appointee Harry Blackman and Ronald Reagan appointees Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy.
But 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is now proposing incarceration for anyone who desecrates the American flag.
Calling into Fox News' morning show "Fox and Friends," Trump proposed, "I think you should get a one-year jail sentence if you do anything to desecrate the American flag. Now, people will say, 'Oh, it's unconstitutional.' Those are stupid people. Those are stupid people that say that."
Trump continued, "We have to work in Congress to get a one-year jail sentence."
Journalist Katherine Brodsky tweeted a clip of that "Fox and Friends" broadcast, posing the question, "Do you agree with him?"
Many X users vehemently disagreed.
Folk-rock singer/songwriter Andy Matteo posted, "This actually made me see the authoritarian side of him. Taking down someone else's flag and burning it is vandalism so it's already illegal what the protestors did. If it was their flag that would be legal. But we don't want Supreme Court justices ruling in favor of limiting speech. So Trump is wrong on this one."
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Software developer Erik Engheim tweeted, "I think laws should primarily protect people, not inanimate objects like flags and books. Also 1 year is excessive. In Norway it is typically up to 1 year for violence against another person. Here they want the same for 'hurting' a flag? Unreal. What next?"
Aaron Stewart wrote, "I do not agree. I say let people expose themselves. The flag is a symbol of the idealism that we drive for, a more perfect union described by the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. It tells a lot about a person that wishes to burn that symbol."
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