Donald Trump signs executive order to jail anyone who burns American flag

The order will overturn a 1989 Supreme Court ruling.

The 79-year-old has not been shy in introducing or amending orders since beginning his second term as president in January.

The newest executive order has introduced criminal charges against individuals who burn American flags during protests.

Furthermore, it orders Attorney General Pam Bondi to look at previous cases where people have been caught burning flags and see if they could be charged with other crimes.

Yikes...

The rule comes as Trump tries to get around the 1989 Supreme Court ruling that stated that destroying the flag is protected political expression under the First Amendment.

While signing the order, the 47th US President said: “All over the country they’re burning flags,

“All of over the world they burn the American flag, and as you know, through a very sad court, I guess it was a 5-4 decision, they called it freedom of speech.”

While speaking in the Oval Office, he simply explained if 'you burn a flag, you get one year in jail', which doesn't really give many details...

Back in 2016, it was clear that Trump campaigned for the criminalisation of the act, commenting on social media: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Additionally, a 2023 YouGov survey found that over half of Americans (59%) found flag burning in protests to be unacceptable.