Donald Trump’s fans apparently have no idea what Russia’s flag looks like. Their ignorance allowed them to be punked by a pair of resistance activists from Americans Take Action, who gave the white, blue and red striped flags to attendees at the conservative conclave CAPC last week:
Two young, progressive activists from DC, Jason Charter and Ryan Clayton with the group Americans Take Action, purchased tickets to the conference, and handed out nearly 1,000 flags to attendees as a prank. After they were thrown out of the conference, they told TPM they wanted to “shed light on an important issue”—namely, the drip of revelations of backchannel communications between the Russian government and the Trump campaign—and allow people to “get a laugh out of their day.”
Charter, 22, told TPM by phone that he and Clayton organized the prank in order to “honor Trump’s relationship with Putin.” He said almost no one at CPAC seemed to realize the flag he handed them bore the horizontal red, white, and blue stripes of the Russian Federation underneath Trump’s name.
“I asked people if they wanted a Trump flag and they took it,” Charter said. “Many Trump supporters were proudly waving their Russian Trump flag.”
“I think it says a lot about Donald Trump’s base and their education level,” he added. “I don’t want to insult anyone, but I think you should know what the Russian flag is. They are one of the world’s major powers, and it’s a pretty easily recognized flag.”
CPAC staff quickly confiscated the flags, but not before the embarrassing image went viral on social media.