Trump’s flag burning comment stirs up strong emotions

President-elect Donald Trump’s tweet about making flag burning illegal brought back some strong emotions for at least one Seattle resident.

Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016

Mark Haggerty was arrested in Capitol Hill in 1989 for burning the flag. His case was later thrown out when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled flag burning was protected by the First Amendment.

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He told KIRO 7 he thought his action was the right thing to do at the time.

“I thought that was an infringement of freedom of speech,” he said. “And I was hostile to the idea of American supremacy around the world.”

However, Haggerty says he wouldn’t do it again today because he feels it creates divisiveness.

Seattle’s American Civil Liberties Union has also played a historic role — working to overturn flag burning laws since another Seattle case in 1970.

“Burning or defacing an American flag is your constitutional right even though it’s very, very offensive to a lot of people,” said Doug Honig, spokesperson for the ACLU. “Hopefully, we won’t have to be involved another case. If we are, we’re ready.”

Of course, not everyone feels quite the same as Haggerty about flag burning.

The man whose protests led to the Supreme Court throwing out flag burning cases and ruling that it is unconstitutional for a government to prohibit the desecration of the flag was reportedly “outraged” by Trump’s tweet. Gregory Lee Johnson told The New York Daily News that while he was upset, he wasn’t surprised by Trump’s statement. Johnson told the Daily News that Trump is “using the bully pulpit for fascism and forced patriotism.”

Though many people who support free speech were shocked by Trump’s tweet, it’s not just the Republican president-elect who has expressed such sentiment. Hillary Clinton sponsored an anti-flag burning bill while she was in the Senate.

‘Economic terrorism’

Trump’s idea to make flag burning illegal follows a similarly controversial proposal by a Washington state senator to criminalize illegal protests.

Doug Ericksen, who served as the deputy director of the Trump campaign in the state, says his plan would create a Class C felony that would apply to those who protest illegally and those who “fund, organize and sponsor” the protests.

“I respect the right to protest, but when it endangers people’s lives and property, it goes too far,” Ericksen said. “Fear, intimidation, and vandalism are not a legitimate form of political expression. Those who employ it must be called to account.”

Ericksen’s proposal followed anti-Trump protests around the country, including some in Seattle, which have been widely promoted by Seattle Council member Kshama Sawant. Sawant has called for a nation-wide protest on Inauguration Day.

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