President Donald Trump sees an epidemic of flag burning and says it needs attention.

“All over the country they’re burning flags,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office, declaring it an important issue. He signed an executive order directing his Justice Department to investigate incidents of flag burning where laws are broken.

There are a few problems with his claim, the first of which is that it’s not at all clear they’re burning flags all over the country.

There are incidents of flag burning at protests, surely, such as when pro-Palestinian protesters burned an American flag alongside Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress last year.

That burning drew bipartisan opposition. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the act and said the flag “should never be d

See Full Page