We begin, as we must when discussing matters of appalling taste, with Donald Trump. The billionaire developer has run afoul of the California Coastal Commission over an oversized flagpole in front of the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The giant staff
looms 70 feet over the money-green landscape and 54 feet over the city's height limit for "accessory structures."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, April 20, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 34 words Type of Material: Correction
800 Words: In the April 6 California section and in the magazine, the 800 Words column about the use of flag imagery in ads and politics referred to Plan Columbia. It is Plan Colombia.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, May 04, 2008 Home Edition Los Angeles Times Magazine Part I Page 14 Lat Magazine Desk 0 inches; 18 words Type of Material: Correction
800 Words: The 800 Words column on April 6 referred to Plan Columbia. It should be Plan Colombia.
The Donald's conspicuous mast (oh dear) was grudgingly approved by the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council with the proviso that the commission would have the final say. Trump stalled the process when he somehow couldn't come up with the commission's $10,000 evaluation fee. He said: "If the Coastal Commission wants to rip down the American flag, we'll see them at the Supreme Court." Trump is the John Dillinger of grandstanding.
This is not the first time citizen Trump has done battle with flag-hating collectivists. In October 2006, he got into a similar row with Palm Beach city officials when he unfurled a dwarfing, weather-generating flag over his Mar-a-Lago estate, a flag 15 times larger than permitted by ordinance. The city fined, he sued, and the whole matter was settled with Trump glorying in himself as if Palm Beach were Mt. Suribachi.
As much as I hate to break up the man's narrative, Trump's flags clearly and gallingly violate the United States Code regarding flag etiquette. Chapter 1, Title 4, Section 8 (i) states that "the flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever." Trump's mega-flags flap over places of business--namely, golf courses and the private club at Mar-a-Lago.
In a season when the fate of the republic could turn on a little flag--like the one absent from Barack Obama's lapel--the greater sacrilege are these absurd, star-spangled spinnakers flying over car dealerships. There are dozens of such flags across the country; as near as I can tell, the largest is a 50-by-80-foot monster on the grounds of Glenbrook Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Fort Wayne, Ind. That's several times the size of the flags over the Capitol. Last year, Towbin Hummer of Las Vegas was ordered to take down a 30-by-60-foot flag after neighbors complained of the loud flapping. Town council members predictably felt the nativist boot, scorned as communists, fifth columnists and Mexicans.
