US President, Donald Trump has signed an executive order that enacts stricter penalties on American flag-burning.
This came as he signed a number of executive orders. He signed several other executive actions targeting cashless bail, withholding federal grant funding to jurisdictions that have abolished cash bail and moving criminal defendants in DC to federal custody where applicable to ensure they’ll be held in federal prison pre-trial.
Trump stated that those caught burning the American flag will get “one year in jail” and stand accused of incitement to rioting.
He claimed, without evidence, that many of those who burned US flags at protests were “paid agitators” supported by the “radical left.”
The executive order instructs federal prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against individuals who burn American flags during protests.
The order tells the US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to look at cases where people burned flags and see if they can be charged with other crimes like disturbing the peace or breaking environmental laws.
It is an attempt by Trump to go around a supreme court decision from 1989, when the court ruled 5-4 in Texas v Johnson that burning the flag was considered an exercise in free speech, protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
That court ruling threw out flag-burning laws in 48 states and made it clear that people have the right to burn flags as a way to express their political views.
Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday when he signed the order, “All over the country they’re burning flags.”
“All of over the world they burn the American flag, and as you know, through a very sad court, I guess it was a 5-4 decision, they called it freedom of speech.”
Donald Trump
Trump has long advocated for criminalizing flag burning. In 2016, he posted on social media, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”
Trump Signs Executive Order Creating Specialized National Guard Units
Moreover, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that the administration says will task Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth with establishing “specialized units” in the National Guard that will be “specifically trained and equipped to deal with public order issues.”
This move follows a directive by Hegseth last week that authorized members of the National Guard, who were deployed as part of Trump’s anti-crime agenda in Washington, DC, to begin carrying weapons.
A Spokesperson for the Joint Task Force carrying out the mission disclosed that National Guard members deployed to DC started carrying sidearms Sunday.
Trump suggested that he’d ask Congress to codify the action, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “I think Democrats will actually vote for this.”
US Vice President, JD Vance hailed Trump’s use of the National Guard and took aim at Democratic leaders who have pushed back on the president’s threats to send troops to their cities.
Vance has said repeatedly that local law enforcement told him “that in the past 20 or 30 years, DC has averaged a murder every other day.” He added, “We’ve been doing this for two weeks, zero people killed. That’s real lives saved.”
“Why are Democratic governors doing everything in their power to make crime easier to do in their cities? It doesn’t make an ounce of sense to me. But Mr President, I appreciate you being willing to help, and I hope these governors take you up on your offer because we should clean up all of America’s streets.”
JD Vance
While the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed DC and other Democratic cities are crime-ridden, the statistics tell a different story.
READ ALSO: Finance Ministry Vows to Sanction MMDAs’ over GIFMIS Non-Compliance
