CNN
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Hanging the American flag upside down is seen as a signal of distress, has embroiled Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in controversy and is now being done by supporters of Donald Trump to protest the former president’s conviction in a hush money trial.
Prominent Trump supporters, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, posted photos of the upside-down flag on social media shortly after a New York jury convicted Trump on Thursday. Flynn, a retired three-star general, made the image his profile picture.
By Friday, pro-Trump social media accounts were flooded with images of flags flying upside down on porches and lawns across the country. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, posted an image that appeared to show a flag flying upside down atop its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
In California, dozens of American flags that had been flown outside a library in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, to mark Memorial Day were overturned late Thursday night, local news station KTLA reported.
It is unclear who was responsible for the act. “The city was very surprised to learn that someone had turned the flag upside down, which was erected to honor our local veterans. With the help of our city staff and community members, we were able to put the flag back upright,” Monrovia Mayor Dylan Fake told CNN on Saturday.
The practice of flying the Stars and Stripes upside down has come under new scrutiny after The New York Times reported last month that an upside-down U.S. flag had been flown outside Justice Alito’s home in January 2021. At the time, the practice was a symbol of Trump supporters who falsely claimed widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Justice Alito said his wife had put up the symbol of discontent in response to a neighborhood dispute.
Respect for the flag is required by U.S. law, which states that “the flag shall never be flown downwards except as a signal of emergency when there is imminent danger to life or property.”
But over the weekend, the trend seemed to gain momentum. Country music star Jason Aldean, no stranger to political controversy, posted an image of an upside-down flag to his 4.4 million Instagram followers after Thursday’s verdict, writing, “This is a terrifying time in our country. What does it mean for us as a people that a former president is being treated like this by our justice system.” By Saturday, the post had garnered nearly half a million likes.
