Donald Trump’s anti-flag burning Tweet starts Flag Burning Challenge

But if these students would pause and consider their actions, they would realize that they are also honoring Old Glory, because the freedoms that it represents, including to assemble and speech, are what allows them to gather and speak, which is, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, what the acts of burning, shredding or trampling the flag represent.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a line from a television show – specifically, a 2004 episode of “The West Wing”, where magicians Penn and Teller demonstrated their First Amendment rights by burning the flag at the White House. Johnson was arrested and tried with “desecration of a venerated object”, of which he was found guilty. The ruling only affected Texas state law.

After expressing himself it wasn’t long before the Democrats, the fraudulent news media, and an assortment of other America-haters flew off into a tizzy, declaring that Trump wants to clamp down on free speech and toss out the Constitution of the United States. In 1984, a Texas man named Gregory Johnson participated in a protest against incumbent president Ronald Reagan. “Abuse of the flag causes more than pain and distress to the overwhelming majority of the American people and may amount to fighting words or a direct threat to the physical and emotional well-being of individuals”. Here are 17 other countries that have banned desecrating flags. The idea that the proper response to flag-burning is not only time in prison, but removal from political membership suggests that there are dark clouds gathering on the horizon for the First Amendment.

It might be considered “smug” to point out the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled flag-burning is protected speech, or that truly “great” nations accept even abhorrent expressions of dissent. I have been raised to respect the flag and what it stands for; however, it is during times such as these that I have to remind myself to take a step back and recognize that the protestors in question are practicing their rights granted to them by the Constitution. It is poignant but fundamental that the flag protects those who hold it in contempt.

One thing has become apparent in the world of President-elect Donald Trump – no incendiary tweet goes to waste. But should someone challenge the latter, given its religious content, wouldn’t many of those Ohioans cheering Trump’s demagogic illogic be grateful that free speech protects their right to stroll the streets singing songs of praise?

“Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag“, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday. No doubt Trump would not join their calls for protecting the faith. Reuters reported earlier this week that Carrier also still meant to close a factory in Huntington, Indiana, that employs 700 people making controls for heating, cooling and refrigeration and move the jobs to Mexico by 2018. He appears to oppose basic ideals underpinning liberal democracy.

John Samples is vice president and publisher at the Cato Institute. Either Trump knows this, which makes his crowd-baiting not only offensive but irresponsible, or he’s unfamiliar with the Constitution, the defense of which is one of the primary functions of the presidency. He also manages Cato’s adjunct scholar program. In “New York Times v. Sullivan“, a unanimously ruled 1964 case, the Court elaborated that speech of “public interest” – that is, about a public figure (like a presidential candidate), could be published by said newspaper without fear of libel charges. Finally, Samples oversees the work of the Center for the Study of Science.

PolitiFact chose to look into that bit of political history.