When news first came out that the Coast Guard had “revised language” in their internal guidelines that no longer classified a Nazi Swastika, Confederate flags, or nooses as hate symbols, the public was outraged. But after the news was leaked several members of the Donald Trump administration came forward with a defense of the service, prompting the Coast Guard to finally respond.
The controversy began when the Coast Guard did a routine update of their guidelines. The Washington Post reported that in this new update they shifted certain “emblems of fascism” into a new section that’s simply referred to as “potentially divisive.” When they were in hate symbols, they were considered intolerable and you ran the chance of being discharged if you were caught with it.
Not for nothing these were symbols carried by the adversaries in some of the biggest wars the US has ever been involved in. The Confederacy caused 700,000 American deaths, the Nazis caused 400,000 deaths — so these have long been considered anti-American symbols.
This caused an absolutely chaotic response on X. Especially considering the Trump administration has been pushing for strict measures in Universities across the country which are considered to be condoning “antisemitic” protests against the war in Gaza.
X user Dylan Ali called out the Trump administration directly: it’s either they are taking hard lines against antisemitism or they support neo-nazis. They can’t be both. The official page of the Department of Homeland Security denied the claims but later on the Coast Guard reached out to the reporter who initially broke the story — Tara Copp — and informed her that they will issue a new guideline prohibiting the symbols of white supremacy and antisemitism.
Need the US govt to pick one, are yall locking everyone up for antisemitism or being Nazis you can’t do both https://t.co/bDIKJaYkno
— Dylan Ali (@dylanali_) November 20, 2025
So @TriciaOhio and @DHSgov lied again. https://t.co/VcHcZorRyh pic.twitter.com/wtd1daFmIN
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) November 21, 2025
This comes just after the FBI has been accused of firing a man because he displayed a pride flag. The Trump administration having stories of them condoning swastikas while demonizing the pride flag didn’t bode so well with most people online. Most people would prefer they clamped down on hate and fascism with the same fervour they reserve for a diverse workplace.
What was odd about the entire short-lived controversy, however, was how the Trump administration chose to deny something that was easily verifiable on the website. Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary of the DHS, even said that the Washington Post should be embarrassed for the story because it was “fake.” But not a single person from this administration could mention what about the report exactly was fake.
It wouldn’t even be the first time that the administration would be caught up in changing government documents that most Americans found inexplicable. In the aftermath of the political violence of this year, when the president was telling the media that he prefers far-right extremism to far-left extremism — the government scraped a report showing just how dangerous far-right extremism actually is.
Regardless of the controversy this caused, however, it’s a great indicator that being hyper aware of this administration’s actions is more important than ever. A lapse in concentration and they might slip in something completely outrageous.
