Trump continues to threaten flag burners on victory tour

Posted by | December 7, 2016 10:53 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Politics

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Donald Trump continues to say he wants punishment for those who burn the flag.

In Donald Trump’s second stop on his post-election victory tour, the president-elect renewed his attacks on First Amendment rights, saying that as president “we will see what we can do about” those that burn the American flag…

The president-elect’s new talking point about those who burn the flag may be a reliable applause line at his rallies, but it’s also incredibly simplistic and short-sighted.

Whether we like it or not, the right of U.S. citizens to burn the American flag is protected as symbolic speech under the First Amendment via the 1989 Supreme Court Case, Texas v. Johnson. The reason this right is so special, despite Trump’s rhetoric, is that even forms of expression we don’t like, including flag burning, are protected…

If we start giving the government – or an unhinged president – the power to pick and choose which forms of speech should be free, it sets our country on a dangerous course.

It may be flag burning today, but what other forms of expression will the thin-skinned Trump decide to criminalize next?

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

13 responses to Trump continues to threaten flag burners on victory tour

  1. Larry Schmitt December 7th, 2016 at 10:57

    How about lying to the American public? Is that protected as free speech?

    • Buford2k11 December 7th, 2016 at 11:24

      unfortunately yes…this is the mass failure of the press…maybe we need to burn more flags as a way of civil disobedience and as a way to provoke them into making a big mistake…

  2. William December 7th, 2016 at 11:07

    He’s simply winding up the Goobers. Trump supporters have little of no understanding of the bill of rights. //uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f6f5c2ee35ffa7944316eff195362e59ec779326abebac11c854587d0e06aa5.jpg

  3. Red Eye Robot December 7th, 2016 at 11:20

    Yeah, Support the flag burners! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec09172653ad18bec2ab6d57bfa90b17fc0f598cb27290ad47a8c0f2ac4a03ba.jpg

    • Carla Akins December 7th, 2016 at 11:58

      I have never heard any liberal state that flag burners are patriotic, only that they are entitled to under the Constitution. Not the same thing.

    • anothertoothpick December 7th, 2016 at 11:58

      Ahhhhh yes. A second amendment guy.

    • Um Cara December 7th, 2016 at 12:29

      ‘Patriotic’ is a word typically used by conservatives, and usually to describe non-patriotic activities. As Carla pointed out, it would be unusual to hear a liberal describe flag burning as ‘patriotic’ – we libs think doing things like paying your taxes, ensuring that our fellow countrymen can vote, etc… are patriotic activities.

      Most of us consider flag burning to be constitutionally protected speech, and we consider it patriotic to defend folks right to do it. My personal opinion is that most flag burners are goofballs – almost (but not quite) as goofy as the open-carry dorks who tromp about town fondling their guns because they are too terrified to buy a carton of milk w/o packing heat.

    • William December 7th, 2016 at 13:01

      Ha,Ha,Ha,Ha. The most hysterical part of watching Trumpanzees and their idiot leader is seeing them trip over their own bullsh*t https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4f024d2c5fba47e586f2b1c9326a4d595ca54b261eb13a4ea8142301cb9e65e.jpg

    • bpollen December 7th, 2016 at 22:34

      Huh, you are saying that YOUR side (he IS a racist neo-Confederate cracker) is NOT patriotic. And since, as evidenced by you repeatedly, you feel that ALL members of a group are guilty for what a FEW of them do, ALL Y’ALL are consequently racist neo-Confederate crackers.

      Pinkie seems SO appropriate a nickname, doesn’t it?

    • RandyBastard December 8th, 2016 at 11:58

      Who used the word patriotic? Show me a citation of anyone saying it’s patriotic. The actual words used were “protected speech.” If you cared one whit about the constitution and what it actually says you could see the difference.

  4. Buford2k11 December 7th, 2016 at 11:22

    we MUST remember, Trump is not a Dictator….yet…

    • anothertoothpick December 7th, 2016 at 12:06

      pumpkin head does not know what he is. And neither do we.

  5. bpollen December 7th, 2016 at 22:38

    Damn that 1st Amendment! Criticizing ME should be considered Blasphemy!

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