A Vermont man said he woke up one morning this week to find his Trump 2020 flag, normally waving from a pole attached to his house, burned and in tatters on his front porch.
Gus Kline, a veteran who served two terms in Afghanistan, said he stepped out the front door of his Burlington home Sunday morning to discover his flagpole on the ground and his flag in an ash heap. What’s worse, he says he’s not sure whether the flag was on fire when it was dumped on his porch while his family slept unknowingly inside the house - a house he says his young grandkids often sleep in.
"I was in bed sleeping along 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," Kline said, adding the whole incident "could have gotten ugly."
"Knowing that there’s people out here who do this, there is fear in my mind and it’s not right,” he added. “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.”
“Kline knows he lives in a blue state, but he welcomes anyone to sit down and share their views with him. He disapproves of any kind of vandalism,” the Sentinel-Echo reported.
"First of all, everyone tells me 'You should get some cameras,'" Kline told the Burlington Free Press in a recorded interview. "Well, yeah, I probably should. But here's a novel idea: get the hell off my property if you don't belong on it."
As sad and disturbing as it was, this is far from the first time vandals have destroyed a Trump supporter’s property over basic political disagreements. Pro-Trump campaign signs have been ripped out of countless yards across the country, while multiple Trump voters sporting MAGA gear – up to and including juveniles – have been assaulted in public places simply for wearing pro-Trump hats.