To fly or not to fly an American flag? That was never a question for Bruce Watson, who has put his national pride on display for years — and nudges neighbors in his small New England town to do the same.
“I’m very proud of our flag,” the writer said. “It’s the symbol of ‘We, the People.’”
But as the polarized nation marks its 250th birthday, Watson, 72, worries his Stars and Stripes may now need an asterisk. “If we do fly the flag, we will also put out signs to make it clear that we are not MAGA,” he said.
The American flag is a symbol striped with many meanings, whether it’s hung on front porches, waved in parades, protests and World Cup matches, or stamped on lapel pins and boxing trunks. Like so much else in American life, it has also been tangled up in politics and the policies of President Donald Trump.
NBC News asked readers to share their feelings and practices around the flag in a moment, polls suggest, when patriotism, national pride and optimism for the country’s future are all fraying. Like Watson, some say the flag can be taken as an endorsement of the current administration. For others, it isn’t tied to any one party but is a way of life.
Flipping the flag
Rather than not fly the flag, several readers said they plan to show their patriotism — and protest Trump — by flying it upside down to signal that the country is in distress.
“Donald Trump has turned everything upside down, so it makes sense our flag should be upside down,” said Dina Bannick, 61, who lives outside Des Moines, Iowa. “It’s a shame. We used to be a proud nation. Now, our country is in distress.”
Trump supporters such as Dave Cavannah, of Monson, Massachusetts, questioned such protests. The professional woodcarver is so devoted to Trump that he is busy chiseling a statue of him that right now sits partially finished on his front lawn.
“I couldn’t be prouder to be an American,” Cavannah, 49, said. “I believe Americans should be proud to fly the flag and fly it the right way. What’s shameful is that people who hate Trump are flying the flag upside down.”
Trump supporters have also flown the flag upside down, most notably after his defeat in the 2020 election to Joe Biden. An upside-down flag was also spotted flying outside the Virginia home of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021, the month pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.
Alternative flags
Rather than fly the Stars and Stripes, Master Sgt. Frank Chappell of the Air National Guard has gone with an alternate flag.
“Part of what makes us Americans is that we can meet in the middle, we can come together in the center and find things we can all agree on,” said Chappell, who is assigned to the 171st Air Refueling Wing outside Pittsburgh and stressed that he was speaking only for himself. “But what Trump has been doing, through some of his rhetoric and policies, is driving a wedge between Americans, dividing us even further. So when I bought my home, I replaced the U.S. flag with the state flag of Pennsylvania.”
Chappell is a religious affairs airman and provides crisis counseling and spiritual care for people from all faiths or none. He said he plans to fly the flag again “once I believe that the states are more united in vision, tolerance and empathy toward our fellow Americans.”
Erin Beltle, 22, who lives outside Philadelphia with her parents, said her father will be flying the American flag.
“But if it were up to me and my mom, we’d be flying the Pride flag or the Philadelphia Eagles flag, instead,” she said. “I love our country, but I’m not feeling very proud of our country right now.”
A Rhode Island teacher, who asked not to be identified to protect her family, said she, too, is flying alternate flags — the rainbow Pride flag and the banner of her beloved New England Patriots.
“I was always patriotic, flew the flag, wore red, white and blue with flags and fireworks all summer,” she said. “Now, I’ve watched Trump and MAGA turn the flag into a symbol of intolerance and hate.”
The teacher said she hasn’t flown the flag since 2024, when Trump was elected for a second term.
“I have a gay son and a trans son and felt that that flag was now a symbol flown by people who don’t want my children to exist,” she said.
Pole pressure
Some readers said they were motivated by peer pressure more than patriotism.
“I display my flag outside my home mainly because everyone else around my neighborhood does it, even though I’m not 100% proud to be American,” said a woman from Newtown, Pennsylvania, who also asked to remain anonymous. “I feel that if I don’t have a flag displayed somewhere, people will think I’m against our country or something.”
And then there were readers like Rebecca Dyer, a mother of five who lives outside Salt Lake City, who said she flies the flag no matter who occupies the White House or how disappointed she may feel about the state of the union.
“I just want to say I love our flag, I love our country and I want people to realize this is not about one party or one person,” Dyer, 38, said. “Yes, the last few years have been hard, and sometimes it feels like our flag has been taken over. But I’m flying the flag because I’m still proud of our country, even if it’s not where I think it should be 250 years after it was founded.”
Red, white and blue wave
National pride may be on the decline, but flag makers have seen a boost in business this year, with government agencies, private businesses and individuals placing orders for new banners to mark the semiquincentennial.
“Business is up for sure,” said Carter Beard, president of Annin Flagmakers, a sixth-generation family firm based in New Jersey that has sewn flags for events ranging from Abraham Lincoln’s funeral to the Apollo moon landing. “Not like 50%, but in the 20% range. This being the anniversary, we’re definitely seeing a surge of patriotism with people wanting to fly the flag.”
The country may be 250 years old, but until the mid- to late-19th century, flags were displayed mainly on government buildings, historians say. It wasn’t until after the Civil War and the 1876 centennial celebration that Americans started flying their own in earnest.
The battle over who can lay claim to America’s flag, historians say, has been raging since at least the Vietnam War, when both Democrats and Republicans waved it at demonstrations for or against the conflict that divided the nation.
“The right used it to make the point that patriotism meant that the U.S. could do no wrong even when it did,” said Alex Wagner, an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs. “People on the left used it to make the point that we as Americans shouldn’t be fighting a war that’s at odds with our national principles, like that of self-determination.”
But it was the hard right that “seized the flag” and began smearing all liberals as unpatriotic, said Sean Wilentz, a historian at Princeton University.
“Conservative and right-wing politicians went along with this, exploited it, and the dialectic of disaffection worsened,” Wilentz said, adding that Trump has amplified that brand of patriotism.
Even so, Wagner said, Americans should be embracing the Stars and Stripes.
“Our flag is ever-evolving, like our country,” he said. “The United States has evolved from 13 colonies to the 50-state union that it is now, and the flag has changed along with it. It’s not MAGA’s flag. It’s not Trump’s flag. It’s the American flag, and it belongs to all of us.”
