One Democratic senator is vowing to get physical with anyone who burns the stars and stripes in his presence.
“It’s a First Amendment right,” Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia told a reporter on Tuesday. “But you do it in front of me, I’m going to beat the hell out of you.”
On Tuesday morning, President-elect Trump tweeted, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or jail.”
House and Senate Republicans do not appear interested in drafting legislation to carry out Trump’s recommendation. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the First Amendment protects a person’s right to burn the flag.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed to the 1989 Supreme Court’s ruling in Texas v. Johnson, which said flag burning is “symbolic speech.”
Manchin, perhaps the closest thing to a conservative Democrat in the Senate, is up for re-election in two years. The Mountaineer State had a 40-point advantage in Trump’s favor.
