According to the US Flag Code, flying the American flag upside down is only intended “as a sign of serious distress in cases of extreme danger to life or property.”
Today, however, hanging the stars and stripes upside down is more widely considered a symbol – a symbol that Republicans and Democrats alike are beginning to use more and more.
What does it mean when the American flag is upside down?
As of June 2022, progressive activists began flying their flags upside down, especially after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the abortion landmark, Roe v. Wade.
Months later — amid the furor over the August 8, 2022, FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence — it became a symbol used by the former president’s staunchest allies.
On the same day, controversial Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter an upside down American flag with no wordsin a sandwich of posts comparing the “rogue” United States to a communist country and calling to “DEFEND the FBI!”
Greene’s use of the upside-down flag is one of a number of instances in which pro-Trump Republicans have described the country in distinctly un-American terms.
The FBI searched Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago: ‘The mood was pure shock’
Phrases like “banana republic” and “tyranny” were used to characterize the US state following the news that the FBI had executed a federal warrant to search Trump’s home.
Talk of a looming “civil war” also appeared on Trump’s message boards (and from Greene herself, who tweeted that she was leaning toward such discourse within the Republican Party, suggesting that the events reflected a country at war with itself).
“I’ve talked a lot about the civil war in the GOP and I’m leaning on it because America needs fearless and effective Republicans to finally put America first,” Greene wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Aug. 9, 2022. “Last Night tyrannical FBI raid on [Mar-a-Lago] it unites us in ways I haven’t seen. In January, we are fighting an internal enemy.”
What it takes to get a federal search warrant like the one the FBI executed on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home
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The use of an upside-down flag to protest the Mar-a-Lago search is particularly interesting for a staunch Trump ally, given that the former president has portrayed himself as the protector of the Stars and Stripes.
He has previously been seen theatrically hugging and kissing American flags at events. In November 2016, he tweeted that “there must be consequences” for those who burn the flag, such as being stripped of their citizenship or spending a year in jail.
Since both sides embrace flag rotation in times of frustration, upside-down American flags will require some context clues to determine their message. Whether it is an expression of fear that human rights are being denied or an expression of distrust in government processes, it is safe to assume that some form of distress is involved.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education