Former President Donald Trump said on Thursday morning that demonstrators who light the American flag on fire should face a one-year jail sentence.
Trump called for jail sentences for flag burners during an interview with “Fox & Friends” hosts the day after anti-Israel protesters gathered in Washington, D.C., and burned an American flag as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress.
“Rarely have we seen anything like this,” Trump said. “And 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.”
“We have to work in Congress to get a one-year jail sentence,” he added. “When they’re allowed to stomp on the flag and put lighter fluid on the flag and set it afire — when you’re allowed to do that — you get a one-year jail sentence, and you’ll never see it again. And all over the world, Putin and President Xi of China, all over the world they’re watching this. Kim Jong Un, he looks at us like we’re a bunch of babies. They see that, that wouldn’t happen in their countries. It’s impossible for that to happen in their countries. We look so bad to the world. That was a disgraceful display yesterday.”
Donald Trump calls for a “one-year jail sentence” as punishment for desecrating the American flag.
“People will say, ‘Oh, it’s unconstitutional.’ Those are stupid people. Those are stupid people that say that.”pic.twitter.com/sGXcTwd1my
— The American Conservative (@amconmag) July 25, 2024
A large group of anti-Israel demonstrators faced off with police at Union Station in the nation’s capital on Wednesday as they protested Netanyahu’s speech before Congress. The protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar” and painted the words “Hamas,” “Gaza,” and “Free Palestine” on a monument outside of Union Station. Hamas flags and headbands were also spotted on Capitol Hill.
As Trump calls for flag burners to be jailed, some Republicans have introduced legislation “to deport any foreigner involved in violence and vandalism on federal property,” according to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
“The actions of the pro-Hamas lunatics at Union Station in DC are shameful, and anyone on a visa who took part should have it revoked immediately,” Cotton said.
Burning the American flag is protected political speech. In the 1980s, a Texas man named Gregory Lee Johnson was sentenced to one year in jail for burning an American flag to protest the Reagan administration. A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Johnson’s conviction, and the Supreme Court ruled in Johnson v. Texas in 1989 that the Texas man’s burning of the flag was protected speech under the First Amendment. The 5-4 majority opinion was written by liberal Justice William Brennan Jr. and joined by conservative Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia.This morning my colleagues and I introduced a bill to deport any foreigner involved in violence and vandalism on federal property.
The actions of the pro-Hamas lunatics at Union Station in DC are shameful, and anyone on a visa who took part should have it revoked immediately. pic.twitter.com/A0I2FVmeh8
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) July 24, 2024
Shortly before his death, in a 2015 public appearance, Scalia commented on the precedent-setting 1989 decision, saying, “If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy bearded weirdo who burns the American flag. But I am not king.”
