MAGA often clutches to a flag they don’t understand

Far-right groups, hate groups, and white nationalists like the Patriot Front have been known to fly an American flag upside down. Or the Gadsden flag. Or the Betsy Ross flag. Or the Appeal to Heaven flag.

In doing so, they try to drape themselves in patriotism, claiming they’re “Real Americans.” 

But what’s so American about their Americanism? Nothing.

It’s just theater

AMERICANISM, AT ITS CORE

We believe Americanism means standing for unalienable rights and freedoms, for our Constitution, and for the simple truth that this nation was built by immigrants fleeing oppression.

In reality, the history of the upside-down U.S. flag shows its been flown in support of human rights, to call to end slavery, to call to end wars, and as countercultural or “left-wing” symbol for civil rights, climate activism, women's rights.

You know, actual “distressful” things.

FAR-RIGHT APPROPRIATION

It was only around 2021 that the far-right reframed an upside down flag as their “distress call,” pretending it’s a symbol for their patriotism-under-siege. 

And, shocker, but that’s a pretty common authoritarian move.

It’s part of why their aesthetics often feel like pastiche rather than original creation — they cannibalize symbols, strip context, and push them out as if they’re novel. It can feel both absurd and infuriating, especially when you know the historical roots.

And take a look at the flipped flag timeline:
Each time MAGA has flown it upside down, they have done so for TRUMP. Not for America.

The flipped flag is not MAGAs to have