The Donald Trump administration recently courted controversy when a picture of the US flag on the White House lawn went viral. The White House tried to tidy up the small tiff as quickly as possible; however, after their response has been considered lacking, the situation has just gotten worse.
The US flag obviously carries deep cultural significance to Americans across the country. From being raised in front lawns to being embroidered in fashion, it’s the one unifying factor Americans can proudly stand behind. Especially with Thanksgiving approaching, there’s a sense of pride that permeates around the nation, making this the worst time for such a controversy to dog the White House.
And the last people that need any reminding about the importance of the flag just so happens to be the Trump administration. Just recently, a veteran protested the Trump administration by laying a flag in front of the White House, dousing it with gasoline and burning the flag, only for him to be arrested, making most observers go up in arms.
Just to make things clear, desecrating the US flag is not illegal. In fact, the veteran was officially charged with starting a fire on federal property. But it was likely the only way that the Trump administration could throw the book at him and demonstrate to MAGA how seriously they take such matters.
According to Newsweek, when the photo first went viral, the White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, said, “The beautiful American flag on the White House South Lawn that was recently installed by President Trump never touched the ground. Due to the high winds on Sunday evening in the Washington, D.C. area, the flag was lowered into a special container out of an abundance of caution during the Marine One landing.”
It’s very hard to argue with images that have gone viral online that the flag looks like it does actually touch the ground. Under the flag code, the flag under no circumstances should the flag touch the ground, although some exceptions are made in cases of emergency — which might explain why Ingle mentioned “high winds” and “caution.”
Still, social media was not too accepting of the explanation. One veteran claimed that this was proof that the Trump administration doesn’t run the White House to the highest standards. Another X user said that every passing day this administration hits a new low.
But there’s always the fact that when it comes to MAGA, there’s always going to be another side of things. Anything that the Trump administration is allegedly involved in can be defensible — let Megyn Kelly tell it, and she will claim even pedophilia is defensible. So of course one user made the claim that the image could be AI.
The White House is unlikely to further clarify on this matter. Depending on who the question comes from — if it even gets to Trump’s desk — he’ll just call it fake news. But it’s always wise to keep a hawk eye on what the White House is doing. Complacency always leads to despair.
