What a week this has been! Executive Orders abound. Birthright citizenship is being rescinded, DEI policies are being dissolved, our nation’s borders are once again a top priority, and so many other positive actions have been taken in the first few days of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
America is taking leaps and bounds in the right direction.
With so many “first day” promises fulfilled via 200+ executive actions, it’s difficult to pick a favorite. Sure, we Trump supporters have our list of go-to favorites: the pardon of 1,500 J6 hostages, the withdrawal from disastrous policies like the Paris Climate Accord and organizations like the WHO, and declaring a national emergency at the southern border. These and similar actions will stand as “greatest hits” when anyone is asked to defend Trump’s record.
But there’s one policy that hasn’t gotten as much air-time as the aforementioned golden oldies. In fact, it’s not even an executive action made by President Trump. But it is Trumpian and American enough for me to consider it my favorite “deep cut” so far.
The One Flag Policy is being adopted by the U.S. State Department, and is inspired by Trump’s America-First foreign policy directive. The new policy, enacted by newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, states that “only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content.”
The Washington Free Beacon reports that the only other permitted flags to be flown under the Stars and Stripes are the POW/MIA and the Wrongful Detainees flags.
The penalty for flying any other flag at a State Department building? You’re fired!
I couldn’t be more thrilled by this immediate and common-sense action.
Under Biden’s tutelage, U.S. embassies around the world have been permitted to fly the flags of special interest groups with perverse objectives. The Black Lives Matter flag was flown over outposts in Brazil in 2022 in celebration of Black History Month. American embassies in Nassau raised the Pride Flag (or the ka-pride-oscope, as I call it) in June of 2021 to celebrate LGBTQ+ people during Pride Month.
It’s embarrassing. It projects weakness. It projects division. It conveys a silliness to the world as if to say “We’ve stopped taking ourselves as a nation seriously, and so should you.”
I don’t care that these movements and organizations have their own symbols and signage. That’s fine if that’s the message you as an individual or private coalition want to convey to the world.
But to fly any flag other than the official flag of the United States of America is an effort to prioritize a few of us while demeaning the rest. The USA flag represents all American citizens, not some. If you’re a gay American you’re still an American. If you’re a black American you’re still an American. If you’re a purple, one-legged, two-spirit, Muslim-American… You get it.
My hope is that this policy is soon adopted by all federal departments and agencies. And I hope that pride and sentiment spreads to the states and municipalities, too.
Any other policy regarding flags lends itself to controversy. Beginning in 2005, the City of Boston began a program that allowed organizations to apply to have their flag flown at City Hall on one of the property’s three flagpoles for a limited time. For 12 years, the program operated without much, if any, controversy. In 2017, however, the City turned down a request to have the Christian flag raised. The applicant fought the City, with his case eventually receiving a ruling by the Supreme Court stating his First Amendment rights had been violated.
The City of Boston axed the flag-flying program soon after the ruling, having received even more controversial requests from the Satanic Temple of Boston and other groups.
It’s a slippery slope. Once you elevate one group, every other category and sub-category of American wants to experience special representation, too.
I recall covering flag raisings at New Bedford City Hall when I was a young reporter. Typically, every month was set aside for a different culture, ethnicity, or heritage that had a large representation in the community. Key figures from the Portuguese, Cape Verdean, Franco-American, Italian, or Greek communities would help lead the ceremonies on their respective days.
“What a load of crap,” I always thought. “Why does anybody need their local government to give them special, arbitrary, meaningless attention based on their country of origin?” I haven’t stopped thinking that way.
If you want to feel represented based on any criteria other than your American citizenship, join a church or a club.
After President Trump declared in his inaugural address that there are only two genders, a local, extremely liberal politician in my neck of the woods of Southeastern Massachusetts posted to his social media, “Your validity is not dictated by an executive order.” His virtue signaling was meant to send a message of support to mentally unstable people who think they are another gender.
It may come as a surprise to that local pol, but I agree with that statement. Government is not here to validate anyone’s identity. And thank God it stopped trying on January 20, 2025.