President Donald Trump and the Democrats are fighting over the national flag, America’s preeminent patriotic symbol.

Democrats know it’s a problem that they’re accurately seen as often being anti-American in their policies (e.g., mass illegal immigration) and worldview (e.g., shouting that the United States is irredeemably racist). So on flag day, they handed out little 4-inch-by-6-inch Stars and Stripes in Washington, D.C., with the message, “Patriotism does not belong to one party.” Political denials point to ugly truths. Democrats have allowed Republicans to own patriotism by squandering it themselves.