CHICAGO — Following the verdict against former President Donald Trump, a constant stream of images showing inverted American flags has appeared on social media and in several cities across the country as supporters and commentators protest the questionable judicial process.
One of these flags was detected on Friday in front of Trump Tower in New York while the former president was speaking about the injustice of the trial.
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, and Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son, have shared images of inverted flags online, as has Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, among hundreds of thousands of followers.
Pundits and podcasters with hundreds of thousands of followers, as well as ordinary Americans, rallied around the inverted flag in the hours after Trump was found guilty in New York of hush money payments.
Fox News Channel collaborators, opinion show hosts and many other figures in the cultural and political sphere have put inverted flags on their profiles or Postcads
“Justice and democracy have died”
On social media, hundreds of thousands refer to the verdict as a declaration of “war” or an indication that a “civil war” is approaching. The words “RIP America” (Rest in Peace United States) were a trend on X, as soon as the verdict was known. Others headline “Justice and democracy are dead.”
Another comment shared referred to the end or collapse of the United States, often alluding to the fall of Rome. Elon Musk, owner of X, referenced the civil war that preceded the collapse of the Roman empire in a post on the social network. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also referred to the fall of that empire in a video he posted on X.
The inverted flag, which used to be a signal for sailors to call for help, has come to represent the “Stop the Steal” movement, which claims that Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election from Trump.
The U.S. flag code, which is not legally binding, says flags should not be inverted except as a sign of “extreme distress,” but the symbol has been used in protest for decades.
One symbol and many signs
Protesters opposed to the Vietnam War used the inverted flag to protest against the government’s actions. A 1974 Supreme Court ruling upheld the right to display an inverted flag after a college student was charged with violating state law for hanging an inverted flag with anti-war symbols in protest of the murder of four war protesters. from Vietnam.
After the symbol was seen in front of Alito’s home, the judge said his wife had placed the flag in the context of a dispute with neighbors.
Some users also posted images of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag in response to the verdict.
That flag, a symbol of American resistance during the War of Independence, has been adopted by conservatives and Christian movements. It has been flown at Trump rallies and during protests outside the Capitol
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag also flew in front of Alito’s beach vacation home in New Jersey, according to The New York Times.
Source: With information from AP.
