The Hijacking Of The American Dream, Flag And All
The first thing we did every morning in elementary school was to all stand stone silent at attention, place our little hands on our little hearts and join with the other innocent, unsoiled children in speaking as one the pledge of allegiance, though I had no idea what it was.
In Boy Scouts, I learned proper flag etiquette, including when and how to hoist the flag, how to fold it in a very, neat triangle and stowe it away until the next day and never to fly it during a heavy storm. My mother religiously flew the flag in our front yard every day during the 18 months when my brother was serving in Vietnam. She continued the tradition to the day she died.
The American flag waved alone on the pole, as it was required,with 13 alternating red and white stripes to represent the 13 original colonies and 50 white stars on a blue field for the 50 states. The red symbolized valor and bravery, white was for purity and innocence and blue for vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
In later years, it became common to post a black, POW-MIA flag below the American flag in solemn memory of all who fought in wars but whose remains were never found.
But never, never was the flag used to blatantly hype a politician. Flying a flag with the likeness of Bill Clinton, unheard of. Seeing a flag blowing in the wind, with the face of Barack Obama, never happened.
How things have changed. MAGA flags are everywhere on the poles just below the American flag, flying in the face of a federal rule that a company flag may not be posted on the same pole as the U.S. flag. Trump is nothing but a company, whose only focus is to make a profit.
It is just one more way that trump has polluted our traditions and bastardized the flag as nothing more than a prop for politicians and nothing turned my stomach more than that moment when he finished his speech at the February 2020 CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee), wrapped his meaty arms around a flag and hugged and kissed it and mouthed, “I love you, baby” which is probably more than he ever said to Melania.
For some history, Francis Bellamy created the first flag salute, known as the “Bellamy salute,” in 1892. It started with the hand outstretched toward the flag, palm down and ended with the palm up. Many years later, because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, Congress stipulated that the hand-over-the-heart gesture would replace the Bellamy salute. Maybe trump would like to return to the Bellamy salute.
Along with the demise of tradition and decorum has come the explosion of schemes to profit off of the politics of the day. And all the charlatans and barkers are taking a cue from the master of them all, trump, who picked up a cool $1.6 billion while president, according to financial disclosures, cashing in on everything from his gaudy golf courses and gaudy Mar-a-Lago rentals to trump talking pens for only $8.99.
And the height of perversity is that trump has taken in more than a million dollars in campaign contributions since the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. That’s not to say that trump didn’t work for his money as he besieged supporters with more than 100 emails begging for money since the FBI seized boxes with dozens of potentially classified materials from the clown king’s mansion. Emails bore such ominous phrases, in bold and all caps as is trump’s habit, like “THEY BROKE INTO MY HOME,” “They’re coming after YOU,” “THIS IS INSANE” and “Do you agree that President Trump is being politically persecuted?”
According to published reports, contributions to trump’s political action committee topped $1 million on at least two days after the Aug. 8 search of his estate. The daily hauls jumped from a level of $200,000 to $300,000 that had been typical in recent months.
Many have picked up on the amorality of trump, seeking a quick profit. The swag is never ending, as with R&M Wholesale USA Inc., a company based in Ohio whose president is Yihai Weng and which sells everything trump from hats to scarves to socks.
A company called Nosnowflakeshere.com, lists no address and sells such memorable items as a Donald Trump Air Freshener, $8.50, a very important item to clear the trumpian stench; a Make America’s Hair Great Again Trump Comb, $8.49; a trump talking pen which I assume never runs out of ink; and “Jesus is My Savior-Trump is My President” Hat, $48; a “GOD GUNS & TRUMP” hat, $39 and many, many other tasteless items under the company’s suggestion to “Shop from the privacy of your home or office and find the perfect Trump hat, shirt, or flag to PISS OFF LIBERALS and show your support for the 45th President of the United States, Donald J Trump.”
Another company at https://trumpwholesaleproducts.com/page/5/ shows a smirking trump in front of the White House and offers “20 percent off everything.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the weirdest nutcase in congress, which is saying a lot, is pushing swag to reflect her far, far left politics, like an “Enemy of the State Black Classic Hat” for $30 and a “Proud Christian Nationalist Navy Cotton T-Shirt” for $30, and caps for $30 which declare “Defund the FBI,” a meme that has become popular among the right after FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago for potentially top secret documents that trump may have secreted away soon before he left office. And there’s always a “Monkeypox White Cotton T-Shirt” that Greene is hawking for just $34.
It’s not just swag. Many of the trump rioters arrested at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are trying to turn a profit from their treasonous actions.
Dr. Simone Gold, a California doctor who is a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement was sentenced to two months in prison for storming the Capitol, where she delivered speeches to rioters during the mob’s attack. Gold, through her group, America’s Frontline Doctors, raised $430,000 for legal defense from her thousands of followers though it is doubtful that she will spend such a princely amount on lawyers. A judge called her fundraising “unseemly” and that it “beggars belief” that she needs anywhere near $430,00 for legal bills in a misdemeanor case. Gold was charged with John Strand, the communications director for America’s Frontline Doctors, who was described as Gold’s boyfriend.
A group calling itself the Patriot Freedom Project says it has raised more than $1 million in contributions and paid more than $665,000 in grants and legal fees for families of Capitol riot defendants. The project was formed by Cynthia Hughes, the niece of Timothy Louis Hale-Cusanelli, a known white supremacist and anti-Semite, who was convicted for his participation at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
At the time of the Capitol attack, Hale-Cusanelli was a sergeant in the Army Reserves working in human resources. In May 2021, he was demoted to private and then had an other than honorable discharge in June 2021. Court documents showed Hale-Cusanelli’s affinity for Adolf Hitler, support of the Nazi genocide, and his dislike of women, minorities, and immigrants
“She is always up for the challenge and will continue to put her blood, sweat and tears into doing what she believes is best for not only her friends and family, but for the American people at large, as she believes we all deserve justice,” the Patriot Freedom Project website notes concerning Hughes.
And of course, there is Patriot Freedom Project merch, all for sale in the name of “Bringing awareness to the plight of those being politically persecuted. We provide support for those that are being held as political prisoners, along with their families and friends.”
And then there is Ronald Sandlin, a Nevada man who was arrested at the insurrection for assaulting officers near doors to the Senate gallery, and who has been advertising for donations on Facebook to make a film about the rioting and he hopes he is portrayed by Leonard DeCaprio.
Two months after the insurrection, Antionne DeShaun Brodnax of Virginia, who raps under the name Butgie the Don, released an album, “The Capitol,” with riot-themed songs and a cover photograph of him sitting on a police vehicle outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His album is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music. Brodnax was charged with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct.
Scott Fairlamb, a New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Capitol riot, is serving a sentence of three years. Fairlamb has raised more than $30,000 in online donations for his “Patriot Relief Fund” to cover his mortgage payments and other monthly bills.
On his GiveSendGo plea for donations, Fairlamb posted “What I witnessed at the rally was a sea of America loving, American Flag waving Patriots who came together from all over our great nation in support of our 45th President Donald Trump.” Fairlamb said that since his arrest he has lost his business, suffered a heart attack and is battling leukemia.
“We swallow our pride as we graciously ask for your support to help us save what we have worked for our entire lives, our home,” he posted.
Robert Palmer, 54, a Florida man who threw a wooden plank at police, sprayed officers with a fire extinguisher and then attacked police with a pole, was sentenced to more than five years in prison. He has started a crowdfunding campaign under “Help Patriot Rob.” It’s been less than successful with seven subscribers on You Tube.
The government can’t stop felons from profiting from their crimes but it can use such actions as factors in sentencing and bail and victims can sue in civil court for damages to recoup profits.
Profits from books written by felons was prohibited by the so-called “Son of Sam” law which was passed in New York in 1977. The law was later ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court for denying freedom of speech to felons. Plaintiffs argued that the law would have made it impossible for the many famous books that were written in prison by the likes of Mahatma Ghandi, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, the Marquis De Sade, and O. Henry.
The law was named for serial killer David Berkowitz, who referred to himself as the “Son of Sam” during his bloody spree in the mid-1970s in New York City. After his arrest in August 1977, intense media attention led to widespread speculation that Berkowitz might sell his story to a writer or filmmaker. The state soon passed the law to keep criminals from profiting from the publicity of their crimes, for instance by selling their stories to publishers. Before it was ruled unconstitutional, the New York law was invoked in New York 11 times between 1977 and 1990, including once against Mark David Chapman, the murderer of Beatle John Lennon.
After the Supreme Court ruling, New York passed a revised “Son of Sam” law in 2001 that requires victims of crimes to be notified whenever a convicted felon receives $10,000 or more from virtually any source. The law gives victims an extended period of time to sue the perpetrator in civil court for their crimes.
And then there are all of the books by authors who professed to have inside information about trump and who translated that into thousands of dollars in profit. The Guardian noted that more than 4,500 English-language books about Trump had been published since he took office, compared to just over 800 works about Obama.
Among the thousands of books related to trump, there is “What Happened” by Hillary Clinton; “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” by Michael Wolff; “A Higher Loyalty,” by James Comey; “Everything Trump Touches Dies” by Rick Wilson; “Insane Clown President” by Matt Taibbi; “Please Don’t Grab My P*Ssy” by Julie Young, Matt Harkins and Laura Collins and many, many more.