Speaking to members of the United States Army and their families at Fort Bragg for the commemoration of the Army’s 250th birthday, President Donald Trump dropped the hammer on rioters in Los Angeles and other cities, noting that they are burning American flags in their protests and will be severely punished for that.
During his speech, the president not only hammered illegal aliens, other immigrants, and leftist protesters generally for setting fire to the American flag while waving foreign flags, but also floated the idea of imposing a criminal penalty on that behavior, namely a one-year prison sentence for those caught burning the flag.
Beginning that part of the speech, President Trump said, speaking about that to the massive, cheering crowd of service members and their families, that the protesters are “animals” who wave foreign flags, saying, “These are animals, but they proudly carry the flags of other countries.”
Continuing, the president made another common critique of the rioters, noting that they never seem to want to wave the American flag, and instead just burn it during their anarchic protests. He said, on that point, “They don’t carry the American flag. They only burn it. Did you see a lot of the flags being burned?”
Still not done, President Trump then floated his idea of creating a one-year prison sentence penalty for all those caught burning the American flag. He said, “They weren’t being burned by people from our country, or from people that love our country. People that burn the American flag should go to jail for one year.”
Concluding, the president then said that he and members of his administration are working with legislators, such as North Carolina’s senators, to get that criminal penalty enacted. He said, commenting on it, “We’ll see if we can get that done. We’re going to try and get that done. We’re working with some of your senators.”
Watch President Trump here:
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Also during that portion of the speech, the president sounded off on the rioters generally, explaining that they were well-armed and well-organized. He said, “They’re attempting to infiltrate and occupy federal buildings wearing armor and face shields, the best money can buy.” He added, “Somebody’s financing it.”
He then vowed that the DOJ is looking into who is funding the riots, saying, “We’re going to find out through Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice who it is.” A bit later, he added, “Under the Trump administration, this anarchy will not stand. We will not allow federal agents to be attacked, and we will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. And that’s what they are.”
And, later on, he praised the troops for how they have handled dealing with the riots in LA, saying, “I want to applaud the courage and the strength of the incredible troops who are right now standing guard to protect federal property and personnel and uphold the supremacy of federal law.” He added, “They’re protecting our ICE agents. They’re protecting the police in Los Angeles.”
Watch rioters burn the flag here:
Featured image credit: base image screengrab from the embedded video