The Donald has been accused of some pretty nasty things over the course of his long and arduous career as a mega-gazillionaire. Ungrateful ex's have charged him with adultery, competitors have accused him of unfair business practices, and even Rosie O'Donnell has claimed loudly and often that he is nothing more than a downright mean person.
But who would have thought that he would ever have to answer to a charge of being too patriotic?
Today, Trump is embroiled in a legal battle with the Mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, over the matter of his super-sized flagpole.
Flagpole? You say? That's right - a flagpole.
You see, the city in question has a statute that restricts the height of any structure to a meager 16 feet. But Trump's flagpole towers over the landscape at a gigantic 70 feet.
It sports an enormous 400 square foot flag (more than 16 times the size of a "regular" flag). However, the flag itself isn't an issue. The problem is that to display this behemoth banner, Trump needs a flagpole the size of a lighthouse.
He is literally flying the flag above the law. The arrogance…
This contentious controversy begs the question: what kind of person would file a complaint over a flag? What kind of Mayor, a civil servant elected to enforce the laws of an American city, would put the importance of those very laws above the symbol of the nation that the city is a part of?
Why, without America, Rancho Palos Verdes would still be part of Mexico, and none of those "Big Government" regulations that restrict the height of flagpoles would exist. Because, after all, being American means having the freedom to regulate freedom, and that includes its symbol.
Confused yet? Let's try another angle.
Trump argues that it is beyond comprehension that, in a supposedly free country, the government should have the authority to place restrictions on its citizens' ability to display the symbol of that very government.
While it might be beyond comprehension, it is possible. The Bill of Rights makes no guarantees about flying the flag - or any other freedom of expression - being regulated, limited, or even prohibited at the state or local level (Congress shall make no law…). While most states have similar "Free Speech" elements in their own Constitutions, few city charters bother with enumerating which citizen rights are guaranteed.
And flying the flag, at any height, is part of that Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression - which means it can be prohibited by local laws - like the incidental structural height limitations of a single city in California.
Which means that The Donald, in the pursuit of his personal liberty and patriotism, not to mention "the American way", has found himself in violation of the laws of the land he wants nothing more than to venerate.
How unpatriotic of him.
But Mayor Doug Stern, in his own efforts to affirm that nothing and no one is “above” the law (even flags), forgot one very important fact: The Donald “Trumps” the law.
