A business owner in Buffalo, Minnesota is adamantly refusing to take down the “Trump 2020” flag he’s flying even though it’s violating a city ordinance for doing so, and even though he may go to jail for doing so.
The enormous flag, measuring 30 by 50 feet, cost Jay Johnson $1000 and it sits atop a $30,000 crane at his construction business in Buffalo. According to the ordinance, flags of that size must be licensed. Signs that are licensed can only be displayed for a maximum of 15 consecutive days and the city doesn’t issue more than two licenses during a 12-month period, Newsweek [1] reports. That city ordinance requires flags of a certain size to be licensed, and also specify they can only be flown for a total of 15 consecutive days, Newsweek [1] reports.
None of that is of great consequence to Johnson, who has not applied for a license, and hasn’t indicated to officials that he’s going to do so, city representatives told Newsweek, noting it is now determining enforcement procedures. One city official said Johnson has received previous warnings from the city.
But even so, he remains defiant.
“I am prepared to get the fines, ultimately get cuffed, go to jail, whatever,” Johnson told CBS affiliate WCCO. [2]
If the city doesn’t allow him to fly the flag at its current location “I’ll just put it up someplace else, and maybe even a bigger flag,” he added.
After the 2020 election, he had taken the flag down but decided to put it back up in March.
The city said it has received roughly 100 formal comments regarding the flag and the comments are split 50-50 in favor of or against the flag.
“It doesn’t really bother me much. It’s just weird seeing it up again,” said one neighbor, Patrick Cayanan. “Like, are they campaigning again for 2024?”
But at least one neighbor wasn’t completely on board.
“I always thought like, Well why couldn’t you do an American flag or something?” said Cody Hulstein. “Where it’s like, you know, this is kind of divisive.”
However, it also looks like there are at least some others who aren’t keen on ex-President Donald Trump because Johnson reports that right after he put the flag back up, several windows on his work trucks were shot out by BB guns, and officials say the same thing happened to a pop-up shop selling Trump merchandise across town. Police are currently investigating the incidents.
Johnson said he’s willing to “forgive the people that did it. They just got to come forward and admit it.”
It’s a good guess that Trump neither knows nor cares that this fool may wind up in jail for supporting him. These two deserve each other.
You can watch the clip below.