Donald Trump said he wants people to be jailed for burning the American flag while simultaneously saying he supports banning the trans Pride flag from flying in D.C. The claim is part of a rash of GOP rhetoric focused on silencing anyone who doesn’t align with the party in the wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s murder.

Trump made his comments during a press conference on Kirk’s assassination after right-wing reporter Brian Glenn – who is dating anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) – asked if the president would oppose taking down the trans flag “up and down the streets of D.C.”

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Glenn claimed that “a lot of people are very threatened by this flag” because it “means a lot of very negative things to people, violence.” He also referred to the “trans shooters we’ve seen over these last couple incidents.” The person in custody for allegedly carrying out Kirk’s murder, however, is a cisgender man.

Not only that, but according to The Advocate, the photo Glenn showed Trump is actually of a Progress Pride flag, which represents acceptance for the entire LGBTQ+ community. It has nothing whatsoever to do with violence. In fact, it stands for the opposite, promoting the idea that people who are different from one another can live peacefully side-by-side, like the many colors of a rainbow.

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Trump’s reply to Glenn included a long rant about violence and flag burning, but it boiled down to him essentially saying he supported removing the Pride flag even though “they’ll sue and they’ll get freedom of speech stuff.”

“But I would have no problem with it,” he reaffirmed. In the same breath, he then said people who burned the American flag should go to jail.

“We’re putting out an order,” he said. “You know freedom of speech means you can burn the American flag, which I think is horrible. But I noticed something over the last little while… it really causes unrest and violence when they burn the American flag.”

He said American flag burners could be jailed if judges “don’t use freedom of speech” but “use the incitement of violence.”

He continued to ramble: “You can burn other things and people just sit there, they fall asleep.” He then turned around to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi is looking into the possibility of jailing flag burners.

Glenn then brought up removing the Pride flag again, saying there are “groups called Transtifa” and that if Trump “can label them a domestic terrorist group,” he could remove the Pride flag.

“I think you probably could,” he said. “Again, you’ll be sued, and it’s okay.”

The end of the exchange punctuated the hypocrisy of supporting a ban on the desecration of one flag while banning the flying of another that is not at all associated with violence or hate.

On August 25th, Trump signed an executive order instructing the attorney general to “prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible of our Nation’s criminal and civil laws against acts of American Flag desecration.”

Republicans seem to have abandoned their party’s fervent support for freedom of speech in the wake of Kirk’s death, with many officials – including Attorney General Bondi – calling for the prosecution of businesses that refuse to serve Charlie Kirk supporters.

“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said. “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

This is a significant departure from the standard conservative position on the issue over the last several decades, which is that hate speech should remain legal even if it is odious.

Bondi said yesterday that businesses that refuse to print Charlie Kirk posters for their customers will be prosecuted, even though Republicans have long argued businesses should be allowed to choose who they serve in most cases to justify anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.

“Employers, you have to have an obligation to get rid of people,” Bondi said on Fox News. “You need to look at people who are saying horrible things. And they shouldn’t be working with you. Businesses cannot discriminate.”

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