President-elect Donald Trump declares ‘consequences’ for flag burners

On the other hand, it wouldn’t be surprising if Trump’s supporters believed that re-criminalizing desecration of the American flag would help make America great again. However, both said they disagreed with pulling citizenship for anyone who did it. If it includes burning the American flag, if you feel that’s right for you, you’re protected to do that. Late Republican Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah introduced the bill, which stated that “an abuse of the flag causes more than pain and distress to the overwhelming majority of the American people”. One guy who doesn’t like it? “Burning the flag is a form of expression – speech doesn’t just mean written words or oral words – burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea”.

Trump did not specify what prompted his call.

Johnson said Trump wants to silence those protesting America’s foreign policy decisions.

The college chose to take down American flags on campus after students burned a flag to protest the election of Donald Trump.

But popular opinion sides with Trump: Forty-eight of the US states and Congress had outlawed flag-burning before the Supreme Court’s 1989 ruling, the Post reported.

“I don’t know about losing your citizenship, but maybe if someone spent time in jail, you would stop and think about what your freedom is worth”, said Tessie Seligman. We’ll protect our First Amendment. “That’s the main type of speech tyrants would seek to suppress”, he said. Some people believe it’s the very type of act that the First Amendment was created to protect.

The U.S. Supreme Court could change its mind on flag burning, but the court has recently taken a very broad view of First Amendment rights. “But tinkering with our First Amendment might”. “But I also think there’s a big difference between that and burning the American flag, which has absolutely no place in our society”, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said on CNN shortly afterward.

Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he would support substantial penalties – including revoking an American’s citizenship – for burning the United States flag, restarting a controversy that has persisted despite decades of settled case law. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe: “We have a First Amendment right”.