Reflections

Reflection

Co-opting the flag

Human Flourishing Politics Writing Communication

Photograph by Greg Conrad Smith, 2026.

I have been amazed at the way the alt-right has co-opted not only the flag, but phrases such as “totalitarian” (referring to the political correctness of the left) or “Orwellian” (referring to Obamacare).

In the same way that Trump would project his own ugliness onto others, the right projects onto the world an uglified internal emptiness, a drumbeat reflecting our emptiness (Rumi).