Trump 2020 Flag Set on Fire Outside Veteran’s Vermont Home: ‘There Is Fear in My Mind’ – By Shane Croucher (newsweek.com) / Nov 27 2018
A veteran woke up early Sunday morning to find the charred remains of his Trump 2020 flag on the front porch of his home in Burlington, Vermont.
“It’s crazy,” Annmarie Klein, whose husband Gus had set up the pro-Trump display outside their home, told NECN. “To me, that’s violent. That’s bullying. It’s scary.”
The flag, which was attached to a pole at the front of the home, said: “Trump 2020: Keep America Great!”
As the couple slept, someone took the Trump flag down, set fire to it, and left it on their porch.
Gus Klein is a veteran who served in two deployments to Afghanistan, WCAX reported.
“I was in bed sleeping with my family and I don’t know if this flag was on fire when they threw it on my front porch. I can assume it wasn’t, but if it was that’s not right at all,” he told the station.
“There is fear in my mind and it’s not right. 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.”
Klein said the incident will not stop him supporting Trump.
According to NBC 5 News, Burlington police are now investigating.
The Vermont Democratic Party condemned the vandalism in a statement to NECN.
“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—that makes us unique,” Democratic party spokesman Christopher Di Mezzo said.
In August, a grand jury indicted a Texas man who allegedly stole a Trump-supporting teen’s “Make America Great Again” hat and threw a drink in the boy’s face.
Kino Jimenez, 30, was arrested in July after a viral video emerged allegedly showing him taking the red hat from Richard Hunter, 16, as the boy ate at a Whataburger on San Antonio’s Nacogdoches Road.
Jimenez, who lost his bar job as a result of the video, was indicted on the charge of theft of a person, a state jail felony, KHOU11 reported, and faced a punishment of between six months and two years in jail if convicted.
During the 21 second video, Jimenez has the hat in his hand and, after throwing an iced soft drink at Hunter and his friends, says: “You ain’t supporting shit, n****r. Bitch ass motherfucker.”
As Jimenez walks off, he says: “This is gonna go great in my fucking fireplace, bitch.”
“Alright, have fun with it,” Hunter replies as Jimenez exits the burger joint.
A supporter of President Trump waves flags outside of McKenzie Arena, where U.S. President Donald Trump is holding a rally in support of Republican Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn, November 4, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Drew Angerer/Getty Image
