"We made it one year penalty for inciting riots. We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds. I've never seen anything like it on both sides. And you end up with riots so we're going on that basis."
"We're looking at it from not from the freedom of speech, which I always felt strongly about, but never passed the courts. This is what they do, is they incite... when you burn an American flag, you incite tremendous violence. We have many examples of it. Many, many examples of it. And it's actually down on tape and you see things happen that just don't happen unless it's the flag that's burning."
Donald Trump explicitly stated that the administration "took the freedom of speech away" while explaining a one-year penalty for inciting riots and new limits around flag burning. He argued that courts recognize free speech but claimed flag burning agitates crowds and leads to riots, citing videotaped examples. The remark occurred at a White House roundtable on antifa attended by conspiracy-minded participants and was framed to justify possible military responses in politically opposing states. The administration treated expressive acts tied to incitement as punishable, prompting concerns about censorship and authoritarian restriction of political expression.
Read at Above the Law
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