President Joe Biden is not providing Republicans with the material they need to distract from Donald Trump’s long list of federal criminal charges, so they’re reaching, and the desperation shows. We’ve now lived through multiple news cycles of screeching about the flag at the White House Pride celebration, and the Fox News-to-Republican-lawmaker-to-Fox News outrage spiral is in full effect. First they tried to whip up anger about the flag being the “progress” version of the flag, which adds a chevron recognizing trans people and people of color. Then they moved on to flag placement as a major reason to rage.
Sen. Roger Marshall has introduced a bill officially named the “One Flag for All Act,” but it might as well be named the “No Pride Flags Here, No Sir Act,” because that’s what it is. Based on photographs of a Pride flag hanging at the White House flanked by U.S. flags, Marshall’s bill “prohibits any flag other than the American flag to be flown, draped or displayed on federal buildings, with certain exceptions.” Marshall’s announcement of his bill adds, “This legislation comes following the Biden Administration’s breach of U.S. Flag Code last weekend when a Pride flag was centered in between two American flags.”
The supposed violation is that the U.S. flag has to be in the center and above any other flags. But the picture Marshall tweeted to demonstrate the violation was taken from too close up to show the U.S. flag flying atop the White House, above and more or less centered over the Pride flag display, among other problems with this argument. Also, though, really? This is the latest big Biden scandal they’re going for with their guy under federal criminal indictment? The flag code is what they think is really going to speak to Americans? Or do they just think Americans hate LGBTQ+ people that much?
Apparently so. Fox News went with a big rant on this subject. Even on the current Muskified Twitter, though, the pushback was swift and fierce.
Once again Fox News and Republican lawmakers show how much they march in lockstep seeking partisan advantage. They also show how out of touch they are with everyone outside their base. Republicans have managed to pass far too many anti-LGBTQ+ state laws over the past year. The Proud Boys and other extremist groups have targeted LGBTQ+ events with threats and violence. Bigots have gotten books pulled out of classrooms and school libraries for daring to represent LGBTQ+ characters. But despite all that, there is broad public support for rights like marriage equality and for the passage of nondiscrimination laws. A Pride flag simply isn’t the widespread outrage bait Fox News and politicians like Marshall think it is. And if they want young voters, boy is this the wrong move.
There have been sooo many hot takes about the 2022 midterms, which is why we’re joined on this week’s episode of “The Downballot” by Michael Frias and Hillary Anderson of the progressive data firm Catalist to discuss their data-intensive report on what actually happened. They explain how they marry precinct-level election results with detailed voter files to go far beyond what the polls can tell us. Among the findings: Highly competitive races were much more favorable to Democrats than less-contested ones; Republicans paid a “MAGA tax” by nominating extreme candidates; and non-college white women shifted toward Democrats by notable margins compared to 2020.
