Trump allies baffled by his continued embrace of the Confederate flag as conservatives have moved on: report

On Friday, Politico reported that President Donald Trump's push to defend the Confederate flag is not meeting widespread popularity — even from his own political allies.

"Public polling shows a majority of Americans — including those in the South — now view the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism," reported Tina Nguyen. "Corporate institutions, such as NASCAR, have banned it. Republican leaders, some of them close Trump allies, are behind movements to take it down. Mississippi took the Confederate symbol out of its state flag. On Fox News, Trump’s favorite pundits are talking more about statues than flags. And Trump’s own Defense Department on Friday revealed a policy that effectively bars the flag from military properties."

The report noted that even Trump himself called for removing the Confederate flag to museum displays in 2015.

"For Trump, the stance is part of a broader strategy to inflame the culture wars around so-called cancel culture, which has enraged conservatives who lament everything from the reimagining of corporate logos, to the vandalization of historical statues, to the censoring of “Golden Girls” episodes because the main characters wore mud masks," said the report. "It doesn’t seem, however, that the Confederate flag is anywhere near the top of the list for Trump allies warning of the left’s attempts to erase American culture. Few of Trump’s most avid boosters were even willing to talk about the issue."

“I don’t think most conservatives outside of the South have any great love for the Confederate flag,” said a communications strategist who specializes in helping conservative groups. “It’s more of a stand you take because if you give an inch, the feeling is they take a mile.”

Seth Mandel, who works for the conservative Washington Examiner, agreed, saying that insofar as Trump's supporters even will talk about the issue, it isn't about the flag itself per se. “Conservatives don't care about the flag but they care about, say, the slippery slope they might fear about the flag leading to statues leading to other stuff, and his talk of the flag is really meant to remind them of the other stuff, not the flag itself,” he said.

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