All credit goes to lowrhoufo on Bluesky for this title, as I can’t write it better than they did. A debate that only helps Trump has cropped up in liberal circles, as yet again the “right” way to protest is being litigated largely by people who experience protest through images of it on a screen. Atlantic writer, Tom “Death of [my own] Expertise” Nichols, helped spark this online conflagration in the wake of Trump’s invasion of Los Angeles, posting “Oh good. People waving Mexican flags in Los Angeles” without a hint of irony about the genesis of the city’s name he’s pretending to be an expert on.
Famed historian Kevin Kruse did not support this snide jackassery that agreed with Fox News’ central premise, but he certainly didn’t disagree with Nichols’ point either, quoting him and writing “protesters can wave whatever they want, but as someone who’s written about protests like this, I’d politely suggest if you’re trying to dispel racist claims that you’re an army from a foreign country, maybe *don’t* wave a foreign country’s flag as you square off against US troops?”
This is classic well-meaning but missing the point liberalism. The kind that cedes the ground underneath its own feet to the right-wing, and then tries to come up with some sort of anti-logic that adheres to its deranged terms in an attempt to win an argument inherently designed for liberals to never win. Liberals need to stop echoing Fox News and tone policing protests, especially when actual scientific evidence strongly suggests the 2020 George Floyd protests helped defeat Trump by “shift[ing] people’s attitudes about racial disparities.” I would assert that a far more powerful image than a protest filled with only American flags is one filled with American flags, plus flags from all over the world. What better way to communicate the true values of our country than that?
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” is the antithesis of Stephen Miller’s politics. The Statue of Liberty points outward, not inward. This gift from our French revolutionary allies embodies the best of America, that this is a country that welcomes people from all around the world with open arms, not rubber bullets and flash grenades. At its best, the United States is a beacon of hope for planet earth, and Trump is trying to take away our defining ethos that anyone can be an American.
Instead of doing what mainstream American liberalism has done most of the last half-century and let conservatives like Tom Nichols define the terms of debate, liberals should push back and assert that America is a land for everyone, and it is not offensive to see another country’s flag opposing Trump’s authoritarianism. In fact, it evokes our inherent strength. Flying Mexican flags in Los Angeles is a quintessential American activity, as it practices both the rights enshrined in the First Amendment and the open invitation we have to the rest of the world to come here and realize their dreams. If you look at the titular image of this article and think there is no way to convince people that the person holding the Mexican flag is not the foreign occupying force in this scenario, then you have given up hope, and surrendered to either Trump’s propaganda or the illogic taking root on the left that the 2020 protests cost the Democrats the White House in 2024, but somehow not in 2020.
It is absurd to think that you could somehow fight Trump on immigration while completely ignoring the countries that other people come from. America is a melting pot and if you are demanding that people leave their history at home when they go to protest, then you are tacitly agreeing with people like Stephen Miller who want to homogenize us into an old school European ethnostate. Los Angeles is where American fast food was invented, and folks are really out here thinking you can functionally separate Mexico from the United States? Sorry, but as someone who lives in another state nearby with a Spanish name, thinking the Mexican flag looks out of place in this region is akin to the famed three fingers bar scene in Inglorious Basterds where you unwittingly give away that you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
Here’s a helpful map for any pundits confused by the presence of Mexican flags in Los Angeles
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— Jacob Weindling (@jakeweindling.bsky.social) June 9, 2025 at 10:12 AM
The United States has a rich history intertwined with other countries. My mom’s side came here from Ireland and my dad’s side arrived from Poland, both fleeing imperial regimes in London and Moscow. Everyone reading this has a family story of their own connected to another country, and no one should be forced to hide it in order to adhere to some narrow political strategy for elites that doesn’t even push back on Trump’s central premise. The entire point of the United States is that we are not a European ethnostate and the American flag is a flag that all others can unite around.
So bring a Mexican flag to protests. Bring an Italian flag. Bring a Japanese flag. Bring a Nigerian flag. Fly them all alongside the American flag. They are all American flags too, so long as you stand for the values that on our best day, make America so special and unique. It’s an easy thing to do these days, as simply standing firmly opposed to the people who so obviously hate America is the best way to show your support for it.
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