After Donald Trump’s historic guilty verdict, a steady flow of images showing upside-down American flags has appeared on social media as his supporters and right-wing commentators protest his felony conviction. At least one such flag was spotted Friday outside Trump Tower in New York City as the Republican former president spoke about the trial. Some elected officials, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally of Trump, have been sharing images of inverted flags online.
Quick Read
- The upside-down American flag reappears as a right-wing protest symbol following Donald Trump’s guilty verdict.
- Images of inverted flags have circulated on social media as Trump supporters and right-wing commentators express their discontent with his felony conviction.
- An upside-down flag was seen outside Trump Tower in New York City as Trump addressed the trial, and officials like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have shared similar images online.
- The flag, historically a distress signal for sailors, has become associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, which falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
- Despite legal findings of no significant election fraud, the inverted flag symbolizes protest against perceived injustices and has historical precedent in anti-Vietnam War demonstrations.
- Some far-right figures and regular Americans referred to the verdict as a declaration of “war” or the start of a “civil war,” with phrases like “RIP America” trending on social media.
- The “Appeal to Heaven” flag, linked to far-right and Christian nationalist movements, also appeared in response to the verdict and was previously seen at Trump rallies and the January 6 Capitol attack.
The Associated Press has the story:
Upside-down US flag reappears as a right-wing protest symbol after Trump’s guilty verdict
Newslooks- CHICAGO (AP) —
After Donald Trump’s historic guilty verdict, a steady flow of images showing upside-down American flags has appeared on social media as his supporters and right-wing commentators protest his felony conviction. At least one such flag was spotted Friday outside Trump Tower in New York City as the Republican former president spoke about the trial. Some elected officials, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally of Trump, have been sharing images of inverted flags online.
The upside-down American flag gained wide attention recently after revelations that it was flown outside the Alexandria, Virginia, home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. A flag like that was carried by the rioters while they echoed Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
Right-wing pundits and podcast hosts with hundreds of thousands of followers, as well as regular Americans, rallied around the inverted flag in the hours after Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial on Thursday. Among them were Fox News Channel contributors Guy Benson and Katie Pavlich, conservative talk show hosts Graham Allen and Owen Shroyer, and far-right conspiracy theorist and “Stop the Steal” rally organizer Ali Alexander.
Other incendiary rhetoric on social media referred to the verdict as a declaration of “war” or a sign of a coming “civil war.” The words “RIP America” trended on X, formerly known as Twitter, immediately after the verdict.
The upside-down flag, once a signal of distress for sailors, has come to represent the “Stop the Steal” movement, which falsely claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump for Democrat Joe Biden. Courts around the country and Trump’s own attorney general found no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome, and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm pronounced the election “the most secure in American history.”
The U.S. flag code, which is not legally enforceable, says flags should not be inverted except as a signal of “dire distress,” but the symbol has been used as a form of protest for decades.
Anti-Vietnam War demonstrators used the inverted flag to protest the government’s actions. A 1974 Supreme Court decision upheld the right to display a flag upside down after a university student was accused of violating state law by hanging a flag upside down with peace symbols affixed to it in protest of the killing of four anti-Vietnam War protesters.
After the symbol was spotted outside Alito’s home, the justice said his wife had put up the flag as part of a dispute with neighbors.
Some users also posted images of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag in response to the verdict. That flag, a symbol of American resistance during the Revolutionary War, has been adopted by the far-right and Christian nationalist movements. It has been flown at Trump rallies and was seen during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag also was flown outside Alito’s beach vacation home in New Jersey, The New York Times reported.
