Capture the Flag

by Christine Merser

Action Item: Buy a flag. If you are using Harris yards signs, add a flying flag. Wear a flag. Put a flag sticker on the back of your car. Make it impossible to know the political leanings of any person who has a flag associated with them. Post pictures of the flag and you and use #OurFlag. Invite others to join you.

I grew up pledging allegiance to the flag. From kindergarten through sixth grade. Seven years. One hundred fifty days a year. Every morning. 1,050 times. And that doesn’t include other times it was said at school events or even at our dinner table. Then there was singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" (which describes our flag) at fabulous events where wonderful memories were made.

Like so many of you, I love my country’s flag. The stars for each state. The red and white stripes for the original thirteen colonies. I love seeing it at the Olympics. I love seeing it in our history. Raised in Iwo Jima. Above the rubble at Ground Zero. Parades when I was a kid. Half-mast for Kennedy and so many others I have lived to see die.

The flag is a thread in the fabric of my life.

And then, I can’t give you an exact time or place, it became a symbol of all that I abhor in the direction where my country might go. I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. It made me angry. It was everywhere, alongside Trump signs, or with his face, name, or initials spliced into it.

My friends stopped flying it. And I stopped admiring it. I stopped looking at it lest I break into tears. I certainly no longer own one.

How did it happen? How did MAGA commandeer what was always a symbol of unity, liberty, and the pursuit of a better future away from every American? Unity? Not so much.

The flag is now a symbol co-opted by political factions, especially by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Since Trump’s rise to political prominence in 2015, his campaign and supporters have wrapped themselves in the flag—both literally and figuratively. Rallies featuring hundreds of oversized flags, merchandise emblazoned with flag imagery, and the waving of banners alongside pro-Trump slogans have blurred the lines between patriotic pride and political allegiance.

And we didn’t see it coming until it was too late.

They have the right to do what they want with the flag. But we the people have given them sole ownership of it without the least amount of push back. Huh? Do you think the flags talk amongst themselves about how we abandoned them without a fight? Who remembers The West Wing’s amazing episode about Penn and Teller burning the flag in the white house during their magic show? Watch it here. Five minutes to give you pause.

So for me, seeing an American flag today brings an association not with the unity it once represented but with a divisive political movement. What was once a neutral symbol of national identity and freedom has become a tool to signify support for Trump, nationalism, and the “America First” agenda. The flag is no longer just a marker of shared American values—it is now viewed as a declaration of partisan belief.

So how did this happen? Over the past decade, Trump has positioned himself as the ultimate patriot in the eyes of his base. His rhetoric has leaned heavily into themes of nationalism, calling on supporters to “take back our country,” while often equating dissent or disagreement with being un-American. As his rallies grew, so did the presence of the flag, used to symbolize the idea that his brand of politics was synonymous with American values. The flag has been flown at pro-Trump demonstrations, prominently displayed on vehicles, and brandished as a rallying point at events like the January 6th Capitol insurrection.

This association has deepened the ideological divide in the country. For some, the flag has come to represent a different kind of America—one that is exclusionary, nationalistic, and tied to the figure of Trump. What should be a symbol for all of us now feels like a banner for a specific political tribe. Not my tribe, so I walked away from it.

So how do we reclaim the flag as a symbol for all of us? I remind myself that the flag’s power lies in its ability to unite, not divide. The flag represents the rich diversity of the American people and our shared belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I have to commit to reclaiming its symbolism by flying it for reasons greater than any one person or cause, by remembering that it represents every citizen, regardless of political belief.

Each one of us - from across the political spectrum - should feel empowered to fly the flag, to wear it, and to be proud of it—because it doesn’t belong to Trump or to MAGA. It belongs to all of us. And, I for one am no longer willing to let them take it. Shame on me.

Who saw the movie The Last Castle? James Gandolfini and Robert Redford. Redford, a four of five star general (what the heck is that star thing all about?) goes to a military prison where Gandolfini, the warden, is a weak man, who thinks the power he has in the prison is all that he is. He reminds me DT. Redford leads a revolt. The flag has a role in the film that reminds me of why it is imperative that I take my country’s flag back into my life and remind myself that it is a symbol to me that unites me to every single American. I hope you will join me.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."