Trump: Burn the flag, go to jail
President-elect Donald Trump proposed a penalty for those who burn the American Flag, which could include jail time or possibly even a loss of citizenship. Regardless of two US Supreme Court rulings protecting the act as a form of freedom of speech, Trump still believes anyone who burns the flag must be punished. Trump supports the first amendment which grants citizens freedom of speech but he believes there to be a huge difference between burning the flag and freedom of speech.mTrump tweeted early this morning, "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!" This tweet acquired a lot of mainstream support as it gained several thousand retweets in the matter of a day. Do you agree with Donald Trump? Do you think Trump will make an attempt to implement a law in regards to burning the American flag?
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I definitely do not agree with president-elect Trump. The Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag is protected as a form of freedom of speech. That should end the conversation. Obviously burning the American flag demonstrates great disrespect for this country, but that's the point. The people need power ways to project their voices. I doubt that he will continue pursuing this issue. There's really no argument for his viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Trump. The Supreme Court rules that under the first amendment you can burn the flag because it is freedom of speech. I'm not sure if he will try to implement a law, however I think he will be very unsuccessful if he tries because it will be unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteHonestly it doesn't really matter what Donald Trump believes or tweets about what should happen to people who burn the American flag, because the Supreme Court has ruled that it's a right protected by the Constitution and Trump has no right to overturn that decision. I'm not sure whether Trump is just plain unaware about the numerous court rulings or if he just doesn't care at all-- and I don't really know which one is worse either. He claims that burning the flag is very different that having free speech, but there is no implication of that in the Constitution and that's not how the Supreme Court interpreted things, so again Trump's comments are irrelevant and will have no influence on what happens to people who burnt he American flag.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Trump will make an attempt at implementing a law that prohibits the burning of the American Flag. Even if he did, it would be unsuccessful because the Supreme Court has ruled twice that burning the flag is protected under the first amendment. Trump has no right to ignore Supreme Court rulings in favor of his own ideas. It is impressive that he is so incognizant of this.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Trump in that he believes people should be put in jail for burning the flag. As the article stated, it counts as freedom of speech as the Supreme Court ruled under the first amendment. Even if Trump has these beliefs, I don't think anything is going to happen with it because he won't end up getting any approval in his act due to it being unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteFreedom of speech exists to protect people that disagree with mainstream thoughts. By allowing people to speak up and protest, we give our society a chance to change for the better. I personally find it very disrespectful to burn a US flag, but if I take away someone's right to do that, I take away from the flag's meaning. I value my first amendment right and even I disagree with what someone says, I will defend their right to say it. Trump doesn't seem to hold these views. It's pretty obvious considering how he blows up whenever anyone insults him.
ReplyDeleteThis is another example of Trump trying to take away our first amendment rights; if anyone goes against his beliefs, he wants them punished. As president, he must learn to accept our freedom of speech and freedom to protest. If he does not do so, I worry that he will legitimately infringe upon our rights.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't think that Trump will attempt to implement a law prohibiting the burning of the American flag. If, however, he did it would be unsuccessful as the Supreme Court has ruled twice that burning the flag is protected under the first amendment. Trump cannot simply ignore these rulings because of his personal beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's absolutely insane that Donald Trump is saying that he wants to possibly put people in jail or even revoke their citizenship over something that has more than once been protected in the first ammendment by the Supreme Court. It's one thing if he personally disagrees with this ruling, but to say that he wants to revoke people's citizenships? For doing something protected in the first ammendment? I don't think he can do anything about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tried.
ReplyDeleteI doubt he'll actually attempt to do something about it, because hopefully his (completely inappropriate for a president-elect) angry tweets don't turn into actual initiatives that he tries to take. Even if he wanted to, I don't think he could, considering the Supreme Court has historically ruled that burning the flag is freedom of speech protected under the first amendment. Though he wants to lock up anyone that disagrees with his personal views, the Constitution is against him.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that Trump does not actually understand the point of the first amendment. Flag burning has already been ruled by the Supreme Court to be protected as freedom of speech, and I can't see any reason that it shouldn't be! I doubt that he would ever even attempt to pass a law banning it, because there is no chance at all of its passing, so it would just be a waste of his time.
ReplyDeleteWhy does he even mention this? Why does Trump honestly think that right now flag-burning is enough of an issue for him to comment on? The only reasons to comment on this would be if he actually plans to take action against the Supreme Court ruling or just to show everyone how patriotic he is. There's no way Trump is going to openly challenge the Supreme Court (at least not right out of the gate) and I'm pretty sure everyone is well aware of how patriotic he is so I don't see the point in him wasting his time commenting on the 'issue' of flag-burning. Being unpatriotic and making a statement aren't crimes.
ReplyDeleteThis is just another example of Trump saying something to get people riled up. There is no substance behind it and it just goes to show that Trump has no idea what actually happens in American politics. Freedom of Speech is protected under the first amendment and I don't think that Trump will or can actually do anything to change that.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sad that Trump's emotional tweets are now a legitimate cause for news reports, debates, and general anarchy (metaphorically, Harrison, not real anarchy, calm down!). I think this was another case of Trump embellishing his thoughts to make a bigger splash; I'm sure he genuinely thinks burning the flag is wrong, but I refuse to believe that he honestly thinks it should result in such harsh penalties. I sincerely hope he's just playing to his overly-patriotic and overly-righteous audience. If he's not, then the next four years will be like giving control of the country to your alcoholic neighbor who casually makes racist comments at barbecues before using an American flag as a cape and running around for a while before tripping into the kiddie pool.
ReplyDeleteI think it is completely ridiculous that Trump would even say something like that knowing that it's not even a possibility. He always turns to Twitter to get people all worked up over something he has to say. It's pretty sad that our president thinks that somebody should get such a harsh penaly for expressing their freedom of speech; He really needs to think before he says some of the things that he does.
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