Cerabino: Creating a Trump-supporting hero of out Delray Beach LGBTQ vandalism case

The 19-year-old Florida man who vandalized the LGBTQ crosswalk in Delray Beach earlier this month is becoming a hero among Donald-Trump-supporting political activists.

Delray Beach police arrested Dylan Brewer of Clearwater after surveillance cameras recorded video of his Dodge Ram pickup truck making multiple “burnout” runs over the gay-pride mural on the downtown crosswalk at Northeast First Street and Northeast Second Avenue.

The tires on the teenager’s vehicle marred the multi-colored mural with black tracks. Brewer’s truck was later identified by video images of his license plate and the large Trump flag flying from the back of the vehicle.

Police charged Brewer with felony criminal mischief and reckless driving after defacing the $17,000 painted mural, which was paid for by Palm Beach County Human Rights Council and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

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It’s not the first time this has happened. And the circumstances are eerily similar.

Three years ago, shortly after the mural was installed, Alexander Jerich, a 20-year-old Lantana-area man took a detour while participating in a Trump vehicle parade, to deface the mural with a tire burnout.

Jerich was also flying a Trump flag from his pickup truck at the time.

Jerich eventually pleaded guilty to the identical charges in the current case and was sentenced to two years probation, community service and to writing of a 25-page essay about the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.

Jerich was contrite and tearful at his sentencing.

“I’ve had problems in the past with fitting in,” Jerich told the judge. “I was just trying to fit in and be accepted.”

Brewer’s case is still pending, but unlike Jerich, he has drawn some powerful political allies on the right who want him to fight the charges by claiming he has a First Amendment right to vandalize the LGBTQ mural in Delray Beach.

One poster photo-shopped Brewer’s head on the body of Superman.

GiveSendGo, an online site that purports to “share the hope of Jesus through crowdfunding” is trying to raise $100,000 in donations for Brewer’s legal defense.

“This fund not only supports Brewer's legal defense but also champions the fundamental American values of freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial,” the site says in urging donations for Brewer. “By contributing, you stand for the principles that underpin our democracy, advocating for a balanced and just examination of the case.”

GiveSendGo’s other fundraising efforts have included campaigns to support election denier, Mike “My Pillow” Lindell, teenage shooter Kyle Rittenhouse and the Freedom Convoy 2022, a trucker blockade protesting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.

One of the big contributors to the fund for Brewer is Tim Pool, who gave $10,000 earlier this week.

Pool is a nationally influential Trump-supporting political journalist with more than 1.4 million YouTube followers and a big footprint on other social media platforms.

Pool, who has been a White House guest during the Trump Administration, was singled out as one of the top 21 “super-spreaders” of misinformation during the last presidential election.

He is among a small group of online influencers “responsible for the most frequent and most impactful misinformation campaigns” during that election, according to  the Election Integrity Partnership, a non-partison research coalition.

In the Delray Beach vandalism case, Pool is telling his legions of followers that Brewer is being unfairly prosecuted for defacing the LGBTQ mural, which he demeans.

“He was charged with a felony for burning out as he turned while driving over a cultist flag painting,” Pool wrote.

The donors echo complaints of unfair prosecution mixed with their disdain for LGBTQ people.

“More people need to keep burning out until the alphabet sign is removed completely from the road!” one donor wrote.

Many claimed Brewer has a Constitutional right to deface the mural.

“What Brewer did is protected under the First Amendment. It is a violation of Brewer’s civil rights to prosecute him in this case,” one donor wrote.

“Yet burning the flag is freedom of speech?” wrote another.

Here’s the problem with all this.

It’s within the bounds of reason to debate the severity of the charge.

You could argue that the vandalism charge might better be charged as a misdemeanor, rather than a felony. Or conversely, you could reasonably argue that the charge should have been elevated to a more serious hate crime rather than a simple felony as was done here.

But it’s not within the bounds of reason to say that no crime was committed here because we all have a Constitutional right to destroy other people’s property.

As for the American flag argument: Yes, if you burn your own American flag, that’s protected speech. But if you burn somebody else’s American flag, that’s a property crime.

Or to put it another way: Vandalism isn’t protected free speech. And when that vandalism is directed at a marginalized group, as it was in this case, it’s even less defensible, and certainly not “sharing the hope of Jesus” with anybody.

(Why is it that those who proclaim the loudest that they are doing the work of Jesus are often the most un-Christ-like in their words and actions?)

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It’s all pathetic, and an ominous prelude to this election year.

These efforts to turn Brewer into a Trump-supporting martyr and hero speaks to a brutish, bigoted arrogance — a might-makes-right, post-rule-of-law society where ignorance is virtue and compassion is evil.

Or as Rand Hoch, the president and founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, told me:

“People with Trump flags think they have the right to destroy other people’s property.”

Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, which is part of the Gannett Newspapers chain.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Turning Delray Beach LGBTQ crosswalk vandalism into valid free speech?