President Donald Trump almost certainly didn’t think that his executive order this week, which vowed to go after those burning flags, would set off a hilarious masterclass in journalism that shows his lack of integrity. But with their most recent viral video, Davram Stiefler and Jason Selvig, better known as The Good Liars, did just that!
The team has gathered years of footage of Donald Trump supporters showing off American flag shirts, hats, bandanas, and even swim trunks to make fun of the president’s public rallies. The only problem is that almost everything goes against the U.S. Flag Code.
The irony writes itself. President Donald Trump insists that burning flags is a crime that “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before,” but many of his most loyal supporters violate flag etiquette daily. Often without even knowing it!
The video is more about holding up a mirror than shaming others.
They ask a man in an American flag shirt, “Would you say you’re strongly against desecrating the flag?” His confused look said it all. What his shirt actually had was, in turn, a desecrated flag! It was disappointing, even if it was meant as a gimmick.
Inaugurated in 1942 and revised numerous times, the U.S. Flag Code is a set of guidelines to safeguard our respect for Old Glory. It sets the following rules: never fly the flag over cars, don’t use it for commercial purposes, and never wear it as “drapery, bedding, or apparel.” Technically, the MAGA rally flag ponchos, swimsuits, and truck wraps are more demeaning of the flag than the protesters.
Yet we need to remember that this code isn’t enforceable (no one is going to jail for wearing a star-studded bikini), it reveals the paradox that supporters of Donald Trump often violate the very norms they say they uphold. It’s loud, pompous, and ironically lawless.
Call it political theater at its most American!
Question to all legal scholars out there – in view of Trump’s EO making it illegal to burn an American flag, are the following items ok to burn (asking for a friend):
-T-shirt with American flag?
-underwear with same?
-socks with same?
-toys with flags?
-wrapping paper with flag… pic.twitter.com/5tJNsqMn73
— sashalatypova.substack.com “Due Diligence and Art” (@sasha_latypova) August 26, 2025
This type of satirical activism has been the backbone of The Good Liars’ reputation. Still, in the context of Donald Trump’s new order, their latest video speaks to a particularly sensitive section of his MAGA supporters.
Donald Trump’s order seeks to make flag burning illegal under more general laws like hate crimes or civil rights violations, even though the Supreme Court has defended it as free speech since Texas v. Johnson in 1989.
Veteran Jay Carey, 54, spoke out against what he saw as a “fascist president” by burning a flag outside the White House just hours after the order had been signed. Police charged him with a fundamental fire code violation instead of applying the new order. The episode conveys the absurdity that The Good Liars points out — rallies over symbolic acts often tell more about politics than patriotism.
Burning the American Flag is protected speech under the First Amendment.
Being an advocate of free speech is recognizing and advocating for all speech to be free, even that which you may disagree with.
Those who advocate for laws against flag burning are anti-American. pic.twitter.com/w85Neb8Gr8
— Christopher Skelly (@Skelly4Liberty) August 25, 2025
Selvig and Stiefler barely speak throughout their montage.
The images (MAGA supporters wearing flags and carrying damaged banners displaying Donald Trump’s name) speak for themselves. Irony is everywhere; free speech is messy, and laughing through political discourse is the best way to cover it in such times!
