A Vermont man and veteran of the war in Afghanistan discovered that his Trump flag had been burned and left on his front porch this past weekend.
Gus Klein, a 58-year-old who served in two deployments, woke up on Sunday to find the flagpole on his front lawn had been knocked down, and the pro-Trump flag nowhere to be found.
Then, he noticed something on his porch.
“I looked on the front porch and I see some cloth on the front porch,” Klein said. “It looked like it was burned.”
Indeed, the flag had been burned, leaving Klein with several questions. Chief among them, was the flag burned and then thrown on the porch, or was it thrown on the porch while burning?
“Knowing that there’s people out here who do this, there is fear in my mind and it’s not right,” he said.
After someone burned a ‘Trump 2020’ flag flying outside of his house, Gus Klein says he sees his Burlington, Vermont, neighborhood in a whole new light. https://t.co/jhZCKiBg3v
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) November 27, 2018
Vermont Democrat Party condemns the crime
Klein’s wife, Annmarie, blasted the perpetrators for attacking the personal property of a veteran, saying it is tantamount to bullying.
“It’s crazy,” she insisted. “To me, that’s violent. That’s bullying. It’s scary.”
“I should be able to come and go as I want and we should be able to sleep at night in our own property, so there is fear,” Gus reiterated.
Even the Vermont Democrat Party issued a statement condemning the act, saying “Difference of thought is what makes us average Americans, but it’s the level of respect with which we treat that difference that makes us Vermonters.”
More of the same
The Trump flag burning is par for the course for the left. Though this incident seems awfully early in the 2020 campaign process to start torching people’s property.
Two months prior to the 2016 election, one Trump supporter decided to have a little fun when his sign kept disappearing, attaching fishing wire for the next person who tried to take it.
Unaware the sign was attached to the wire, a woman came running along, grabbed the sign and fled, promptly face-planting in the yard. She was then forced to flee without the Trump sign.
Others during the 2016 run were forced to electrify their signs or booby trap them in an effort to deter the thieves.
Klein won’t back down
Stealing signs is one thing, burning a flag and leaving it on the front porch is an entirely different tactic, one that could easily cause serious injury or death.
Had Klein’s flag still been burning when it was on the porch, which in all likelihood it was, it had the potential of catching something else on fire and possibly burning this vet’s home down – or worse.
Police in Burlington are investigating the incident, but there’s little doubt the perpetrators will get off with a misdemeanor slap on the wrist.
Klein, meanwhile, said the incident won’t deter him.
“It’s not like it’s going to stop me for believing in who, campaigning for who I believe is right for the United States,” he said.
