Donald Trump is a horrible human being and thus there is some pleasure derived in seeing him destroy himself in front of the American people, not much, but it’s better than the alternative.
Trump says that he sees the Confederate flag as a freedom of speech issue, even while he acknowledges that NASCAR has the right to ban it at its races.
Trump is fighting the wrong battle and characterizing the entire matter to suit his purposes. The flag is not a “freedom of speech issue.” No one has proposed making the flag illegal to possess or fly. Freedom of speech only applies to government action, only a government ban even implicates the First Amendment.
A business, like NASCAR, can make any decision it wants so long as it doesn’t ban people of color, religions, etc. One doesn’t possess Freedom of Speech at a race. One can yell N**** at the race and be removed – obviously. It’s not freedom of speech. One can yell it in a public park and it’s not illegal in and of itself, but if used as a direct threat to others, it could violate a law. The speech isn’t implicated.
A state can simply choose another flag. No one has a right to have the flag that a person wants for their state. It isn’t a freedom of speech issue. But that doesn’t stop Trump:
“I was just talking about the fact that that NASCAR chose to go a certain way and that’s going to be up to them. That is up to them. I’m very friendly with NASCAR. I know the people there. I know drivers. I know a lot of them.”
“But I view it as freedom of speech. It’s freedom of speech. You do what you do. It’s freedom of speech. And NASCAR can do whatever they want and they’ve chosen to go a certain way and other people chose to go a different route. But it’s freedom of speech.”
So long as one is on their own private property or on publicly owned property, it’s not illegal and doesn’t become a constitutional issue.
But that doesn’t fit Trump’s narrative. He wants to play up white grievances because his base is never stronger than when waving the victim card, that all of this has victimized them and their rights. So Trump frames the issue as a struggle to maintain their constitutional rights, just so his base feels more threatened.
It is truly sickening in today’s environment, or any environment. Watch, as it’s in the clip:
President Trump has suggested NASCAR made a mistake in banning the Confederate flag. When I asked him about the flag’s place in our society, President Trump reiterated: “It’s freedom of speech.” #NexstarDC [1] pic.twitter.com/imdRKrNrO0 [2]
— Jessi Turnure (@JessiTurnure) July 7, 2020 [3]
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Peace, y’all
Jason
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