By Christopher “Flood the Drummer®” Norris
What constitutes disrespecting the American flag? The answer is subjective, and the question has found a persistent spotlight since then San Francisco 49ers Mr. Colin Kaepernick, displeased by the treatment of African-Americans by police, opted to no longer stand for the national anthem.
With Mr. Kaepernick’s protest being replicated nationwide and the debate about it growing more contentious by the day, everyone seems to have an opinion on patriotism. And none are more vocal about theirs then U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
Known to indulge in the trivial, Mr. Trump has ignited a petty culture war with the N.F.L that’s rooted in his supposed love of country and athlete’s perceived anti-American stance. Mr. Trump is aiming to appear intolerant to the desecration of the American flag and the traditions it represents. And yet, it is he who’s currently violating the sanctity of the norms and standards which the flag represents.
By shamelessly engaging in a public tit-for-tat with an American soldier’s wife who was widowed upon an ambush in Niger, Mr. Trump is dishonoring the flag in a manner that a kneeling athlete could never.
Mrs. Myeshia Johnson, who on Monday morning appeared on Good Morning America, said she cried after receiving a hastily made phone called by Mr. Trump. The president didn’t know the name of the deceased, according to Mrs. Johnson, who confirmed what a Florida Congresswoman, who’s also a family friend, said about the call: that Mr. Trump, who weaseled out of serving in the Vietnam War, was insensitive and implied that Sgt. La David Johnson knew the risk of his job.
Mr. Trump after the morning interview refuted the claims, including that he couldn’t remember Sgt. Johnson’s name, on Twitter. But MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, who has known Mr. Trump for years, said the description of the call given by Mrs. Johnson and Democrat Congresswoman Frederica Wilson sounds like the man she knows.
This October controversy isn’t Mr. Trump’s first negative run-in with a Goldstar family. In July, Mr. Khizr Khan, whose son Mr. Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, spoke at the last night of the Democratic National Convention and accused the then Republican candidate of never sacrificing no one or nothing. Mr. Trump fired back.
The real-estate mogul accused Mr. Khan of reading from a script written by a Clinton campaign speech writer. And Mr. Trump further said that Mr. Khan’s wife, Ghazala, who stood next to her husband on the DNC stage but didn’t speak, was likely silenced due to her religion.
Mr. Trump’s attack on a Goldstar family in the summer of 2016 was hideous. His 2017 act of a similar nature is comparably more egregious. The Khans had more than a decade to grieve before having to encounter Mr. Trump’s non-empathetic personality. But for Mrs. Johnson, the wound of loss is still bleeding: the burial of her husband was on the 21st of October, and the tweet implying she lied about the phone call materialized two days later.
The American flag to Mr. Trump is a mere prop in his over-the-top political theater. If the flag was as sacred as Mr. Trump claims, then he would have more reverence for it, and the families who’ve scarified in its name.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® and I’m Drumming for Justice!™
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