New York Times columnist Margaret Renkl may be based in Nashville, but she’s as contemptuous of Trumpers and Red Staters as any of the paper’s Manhattan-based writers, as shown in her latest self-important trashing of an American holiday: “The American Flag Belongs to Me, Too, and This Year I’m Taking It Back.”
She reminisced how in her younger days, “We were all proud to be Americans, even if we didn’t agree about which aspects of our sprawling, messy democracy merited pride.”
But not anymore, as Old Glory is now being hijacked and retaken by the Red Staters in all of their irredeemable tackiness.
If you drive in any red state, there will be American flags at truck stops. They hang from cranes and are stretched across cars’ back windows. “The sheer volume of American flag paraphernalia that white people seem to own boggles my mind,” tweeted the Times columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom last month. “I assume it just sort of flows to them & they aren’t buying all of it? I’m not sure.”
I’m pretty sure white people are buying this stuff.
Not all. Old Glory has become such a strong feature of Trump rallies that many liberals have all but rejected it, unwilling to embrace the symbol of a worldview that we find anathema….
The majority of Americans did not want the Court to overturn Roe. They don’t want to be surrounded by guns. They are deeply worried about climate change. These Supreme Court decisions have made it clear that the law of this land does not reflect the will of those who live there.
But it isn’t the Supreme Court’s job to reflect current polling data, but to preserve states’ rights and individual freedoms. Overruling Roe V. WadeThis means that abortion laws in the future will be influenced by the citizens and legislatures of each state.
Renkl allowed her disdain to shine through.
This is something that I struggle with. I have staked my entire worldview on the belief that people are mostly good, even when we don’t agree with one another, But I am now in an internal struggle not to be defeated. Hate everyone This political moment has been made possible by the decisions of many people, big and small.
Renkl described being outside the Supreme Court when in 2015 when it announced its decision that gay marriage was a constitutional right. It reveals how contingent love of country is to liberals: America is worth celebrating to the extent its governmental branches are making decisions they approve of.
What happened next is something I’ll never forget. The crowd started singing the national anthem.
….It is also my country and I won’t give it up to undemocratic dictators.
My husband and I raised an American flag for the fourth of July weekend. It was our first attempt in many years. It’s right next to the front door, and it does not symbolize MAGA lies or MAGA tyranny….
The Pride flag is flown, along with Renkl’s American flag.
This isn’t the first national holiday Renkl has marred with obnoxious commentary. Her Memorial Day 2021 column condemned her fellow Americans for “refus[ing] to give up social gatherings.” Yet she previously hailed the public protests after George Floyd’s killing!
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