Most people are familiar with the symbolism behind a white flag.
From television, movies, and literature, we understand it to indicate surrender.
But a new phenomenon has emerged in America.
Some Donald Trump supporters have taken to displaying black American flags outside their homes, and if you see one, you should know it’s no Halloween decoration.
The opposite of the white “surrender” icon, Donald Trump supporters’ recent exhibition is meant to convey the opposite–“no surrender“.
In a Living Blue in Texas post titled “Are Your Republican Neighbors Planning on Killing You?”, writes:
“Black American flags are the flags that mean ‘no quarter shall be given.’ They are the opposite of the white flag of surrender.
“According to the people on Tik Tok and the Sun (British tabloid), the black American flag originated in the civil war and was flown by the Confederates.
“It means that they will not surrender, will not take prisoners, and are willing to die for their cause. It means they will execute their enemies.”
Who are their enemies?
According to Chauncey DeVega, explained in his Salon piece “Black flag: Understanding the Trumpists’ latest threatening symbol, they’re “‘socialist liberals,’ Muslims, vaccinated people and others deemed to be ‘enemies’ of ‘real America.'”
Michelle Davis added:
“Pretty much any non-Conservative. You know, Democrats, Liberals, LGBTQ, BIPOC…They believe that Joe Biden has declared a civil war on them by mandating that employers with over 100 employees and the military have vaccinations. Yes, they say civil war, and they say it’s already started. The biggest message they have been sending out is, ‘it’s time’ or ‘the time is now.'”
Several public opinion polls and research have shown that millions of republican voters and Trump adherents support violence as a means to remove President Joe Biden from office because of their belief in Trump’s “big lie” that the only way he could have lost to Biden is because the election was “rigged.”
A significant swath of republicans believe the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol on January 6 to violently subvert the constitutional process of certifying states’ electoral votes were justified.
A recent University of Virginia’s Center for Politics poll reveals more than 50 percent of Trump supporters want republican-led states to secede from the Union.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, all but sounded a declaration of war in a recent speech to the North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Salt & Light”:
“It is time for the American Christian church to come out of the shadows to say, ‘No longer are we going to allow our culture to be determined by people who hate the things that we believe in….’We are going to stand valiantly for God’s incredible inherent truths that predate any version of government. Because, my friends, if we lose this country today, if we bend the knee to the Democrats today, our country will be lost forever, our children will never know what freedom is. It’s our duty to stand up, Let us stand united as men and women of faith to fight for our country.”
Warning Cawthorn’s message is similar to that of ISIS and al-Qaida, terrorism and national security expert and author Malcolm Nance commented in an interview with MSNBC‘s Joy Reid:
“[Cawthorn] picks up on the themes that are not just coming from the Steve Bannon level and Donald Trump level, they are coming from the Republican street—and that Republican street is armed. They’re angry. They have been fed an entire line which makes them believe that America is no longer America and that they no longer want the America that the rest of us, the 60 percent of the country, live in. And they`re willing to take up arms for it.”
The signs are all there.
The Dept. of Justice has agreed to step in to investigate right-wing threats to school board members and school district personnel.
Right-wing chatter online has continued to concern the intelligence community and law enforcement.
As another election nears, threats to poll workers and other elections officials increase.
Trump supporters have declared war in democracy, and they’re brandishing their symbol admitting as much.
Another civil war?
They’re counting on it.
Image credit: Cat Han via Unsplash
