Former President Donald Trump said that anyone who tries to burn the American flag should receive a “mandatory” one-year prison sentence.
Trump at a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Saturday night talked Referring to anti-Israel protesters burning American flags at demonstrations, he said America “doesn’t need more people wanting to burn” the American flag.
Related: Anti-Israel protesters vandalize Liberty Bell, damage Columbus Memorial
Matt Purdy/Breitbart News
“We don’t need any more people trying to burn our flag,” Trump told the crowd.
“I saw them burning the American flag yesterday and the day before yesterday. And I said, I know they say it’s unconstitutional, but let’s make it unconstitutional. If you burn the American flag, you should get an immediate, mandatory, one-year prison sentence.”
“If you burn the American flag, you should be sentenced to one year in prison immediately” — President Trump in St. Cloud, Minnesota pic.twitter.com/3CEK27wYNL
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) July 28, 2024
Trump’s comments came days after pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Washington, DC to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.
Pro-Palestinian protesters took the American flag down from a flagpole at Union Station, replaced it with a Palestinian flag, and then set the American flag on fire.
RELATED: Lawmakers raise US flag in protest after protester burns flag at pro-Palestinian protest in Washington DC
This is not the first time protesters have burned the American flag: in May, pro-Palestinian protesters in New York City burned an American flag while draping a Palestinian flag around a monument.
In April, an American flag was also burned during a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City, when one protester waved a burning American flag and another set a counter-protester’s American flag on fire.
