The NYT’s Alito Flag Controversy: Politicizing Patriotism

On Tuesday, the Times published another smear piece on Justice Samuel Alito to indict the conservative judge as a partisan ideologue corrupted by far-right politics. The evidence presented to suggest Justice Alito is a right-wing provocateur incapable of serving as an impartial jurist? An “Appeal to Heaven” flag, also known as the Pine Tree flag, with historical roots in the American Revolution, flew outside his New Jersey home on Long Beach Island last summer.

“Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey,” the Times reported. “This time, it was the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Ah, yes. The flag is considered a symbol of extremism now because a few people carried the flag to the Capitol for an hours-long demonstration three years ago. If only The New York Times applied the same rules to the militant anarchists who terrorized the nation in 2020 under rainbow banners of identity politics.

Will The New York Times publish a follow-up story chronicling the extremism on display at congressional offices hanging the “progress pride flag?” What about at the State Department? Or K-12 classrooms? Should the generic rainbow pride flag be considered a symbol of virulent extremism?

No, even if some who drape themselves in the colors act increasingly extreme. The media, however, have a toxic habit of tying the masses to the loudest voices who’ve embraced their respective banners, whether it be a couple of crazy teachers obsessed with virtue signaling or a group of wannabe revolutionaries on Jan. 6.

According to The New York Times, the fabricated flag debacle now drawing hysterical headlines across the corporate press demands Justice Alito recuse himself from several high-profile cases central to thwarting Donald Trump’s third bid for the White House. Last week, the Times published a separate story highlighting an upside-down flag signaling a nation in distress three years ago amid the turbulent month of President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

The manipulated flag, however, was flown by Alito’s wife following an argument with a neighbor over a profane anti-Trump sign, and there is no evidence to the contrary. Even if the justice had hung the flag himself, it would be no grounds for recusal. Still, the most dangerous aspect of the New York Times’ latest flag hysteria isn’t even the attacks on the Supreme Court, but the politicization of patriotism itself.

Alito’s banner to “Appeal to Heaven” was designed by George Washington’s personal secretary and was adopted by the colonial military in 1775, becoming the official flag of the Massachusetts Navy in 1776. The text was inspired by British political philosopher John Locke, whose ideas became the foundation for American independence. According to The New York Times, “Justice Alito declined to respond to questions about the beach house flag, including what it was intended to convey and how it comported with his obligations as a justice.”

The fact The New York Times is writing to millions of readers who likely live in online echo chambers that the Pine Tree flag “conveys” anything but a patriotic message of democratic resilience warrants an American flag flown in distress on its own. And it’s not just the Pine Tree flag that’s now written off as an overt symbol of extremism. Just about every other flag with historical roots in the American fight for independence has now become the target of far-left attacks as banners of radical opposition. A nation steeped in self-hatred, where patriotism itself is written off as extreme, will not survive as a governable nation. And even if the nation does survive, it won’t be “united.”

Last year’s Gallup poll reported the number of U.S. adults who say they are “extremely proud” to be American remains near a record low, at just 39 percent. The number is down more than 30 percent from 20 years ago, when 70 percent said they were “extremely proud” to be American. One would hope that number will be 100 percent on Monday, when the nation collectively remembers the nearly 1.4 million who died in service of our country. Meanwhile, Flag Day is approaching on June 14. The New York Times better brace itself for an outbreak of extremism.