Jeffrey C. Isaac writes:

As we anticipate Trump’s Kim Jong-un–style celebration of this year’s Flag Day, it is worth keeping this flag-centered image clearly in view:

This is MAGA patriotism in action—the merging of the U.S. flag with the Confederate battle flag and the Trump flag, and the conflation of patriotism with racist reaction, violence, and Trump himself, the megalomaniac who has declared that “I was saved by God to make America great again.”

The Trumpian June 14, 2025 parade and celebration will be the successor to that angry insurrection of January 6, 2021—a celebration of “patriotism” that is deeply anti-democratic, and of a man who is the most authoritarian president in American history.

If you want to see true patriotism this June 14, turn away from Trump’s propagandistic spectacle and look instead to those responding across the country with a loud, proud chant of “No Kings!” And recall this observation, from the first of the Federalist Papers: “Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing Demagogues, and ending Tyrants.” [Continue reading…]