In the near future, you’ll call your kids over to sit around the burning garbage can that heats your shack, its walls and ceiling made of scavenged corrugated iron. As they miserably chew on yet another grilled rat, you’ll cheer them up with mythical tales of the past. “Once upon a time, there was this magical document called the Constitution. It protected you from bad people who want to do bad things to you. Then, one day, a mean, stupid man came along and tore it up…” This dystopia took one step towards happening today, with Donald Trump casually confirming that the whole “freedom of speech” thing is done. The pretext for removing it is that it’s being abused by “paid anarchists” to agitate crowds by burning flags, which cannot be tolerated. Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds." pic.twitter.com/maRI2PKWlV— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2025 “We took the freedom of speech away because that’s been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds. They’ve never seen anything like it you and end up with riots.” And that’s how freedom dies. Not with a bang, but with a confused old man lying about fictional riots as he tries to create a pretext for sending his troops into Democrat-voting cities with live ammunition. Are they even rights if they can be snatched away on an old man’s whim? It’s worth underlining that the Supreme Court has ruled and reaffirmed that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is free speech and thus protected by the Constitution. The Court defines this as symbolic speech, so it can’t be criminalized even if people are offended by it, as that would violate free expression. It’s also worth underlining that you’re entirely within your rights to be outraged by the sight of someone burning a flag, and it’s perfectly legitimate to protest against that. But while you’re angry, remember that the same law protecting the flag-burner is also protecting your right to do and say things that your opponents find deeply offensive. But, of course, none of those distinctions has come within a million miles of Trump’s rapidly decomposing grey matter. For Trump, free speech specifically means allowing him to say and do whatever he likes, and for the rest of us, it means agreeing with him. After all, in Trumpthought opposing Trump is opposing America, and opposing America is un-American. And you wouldn’t want to be un-American, would you, citizen? Pick up the can.