As has become our recent tradition, the family headed down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina the weekend after the kids got out of school. Because I’m invariably the first one up (often by several hours), I head down pretty early to reserve a spot at the beach,* making the transition much easier for the rest of the gang.
Yesterday, when the family went down, someone had set up two tents right next to us with a flag like the one pictured atop the post planted by them. That struck us as, to say the least, odd.
First and foremost, who brings a flag or any other advertisement for their favored presidential candidate to the beach? I’m more interested in politics than the next guy and it would simply never occur to me. (Then again, I’m not really a yard sign, bumper sticker, or t-shirt guy, either.) It seems a weird intrusion into a peaceful retreat. Even more so when the candidate is so wildly polarizing.
Second, while I fully understand why someone would vote for Donald Trump in our binary system, the image of him depicted on the flag is beyond comical. The man has never served in the military; why is he riding a tank and holding an M-16? (And why is the tank rolling out of the ocean onto the beach?)
My first impression was that these people must be Grade-A assholes, as the flag struck me as intentionally provocative. At least judging from their behavior for those few hours, they seemed like perfectly nice folks. But their Trump flag was the last thing they packed up, furling it carefully around the pole.
*While frowned upon in some places, it’s standard practice at this particular location, as is the setting up of various beach tents for shade. The latter are banned at some North Carolina beaches but ubiquitous here.
