Photo via Flickr user Gage Skidmore
President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday morning to talk some nonsense about how flag burners should be jailed:
The statement came out of nowhere (Trump had previously been ranting about how CNN was bad because it wouldn't report on bogus voter fraud accusations or something) but it seems to be in response to the flag controversy unfolding at Hampshire College.Burning the American flag is constitutionally protected free speech—the Supreme Court has said so. The Supreme Court has also ruled that stripping someone of citizenship amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative Supreme Court justice who died earlier this year and has been lavishly praised by Trump, spoke to CNN in 2012 about why flag burning is legal."If I were king, I would not allow people to go around burning the American flag," Scalia told CNN. "However, we have a First Amendment which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged, and it is addressed in particular to speech critical of the government," he continued. "That was the main kind of speech that tyrants would seek to suppress."This article has been updated.Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)November 29, 2016