Controversial flags flew above Supreme Court Justice Alito's homes: What do they mean?
New reports show flags that were flown at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s homes – but what do those flags mean? Meanwhile, an organization whose members have spoken at recent college campus protests against the war in Gaza also has connections to a group convicted of funneling money to Hamas, a USA TODAY investigation published this week found. And former President Donald Trump is boosting the QAnon conspiracy theory — more than ever before.
It’s the week in extremism.
Controversial flags above SCOTUS Justice Samuel Alito's homes:
Two flags connected to the “Stop the Steal” movement were seen flying at homes owned by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, according to reports in the New York Times. The flags — an upside-down Stars and Stripes and the “Appeal to Heaven” flag – are both considered emblems of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
More: Samuel Alito flew an 'Appeal to Heaven' flag outside his Long Beach vacation home: report
Inverted American flag: The Times reported late last week that the upside-down Stars and Stripes flew over Alito’s Virginia home shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Alito, who was at the time considering whether to hear a case on the 2020 election, told the New York Times he “had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” which he said was placed by his wife.
What it means: The upside-down flag was also carried by several people who took part in the riot at the Capitol and has become a well-known symbol to election deniers.
Appeal to Heaven: On Wednesday, the Times reported that the “Appeal to Heaven” flag flew above the Alitos’ beach house in Long Island last year. Alito has not commented on the second flag.
What it means: The flag, a white background with a green pine tree, has roots in the American Revolution, but in modern times has been associated with the Christian Nationalist movement, which Trump has courted.
Amid campus protests, organizers with past ties to Hamas
American Muslims for Palestine, whose top officials have spoken at campus encampments, and which has ties to the campus protest movement, also has connections to an older organization that was convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, a USA TODAY investigation this week found.
Osama Abuirshaid, AMP’s executive director, who made speeches last month at at least two campus protests, used to run the internal newspaper for Islamic Association for Palestine. That organization’s sister fundraising group was convicted of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas in the early 2000s.
A civil lawsuit against Islamic Association for Palestine brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act resulted in a $156 million judgment against the group, which closed down in 2004. In 2017, the same plaintiffs filed suit against American Muslims for Palestine, which was founded in 2006 claiming AMP is the legal “alter ego” of the older group.
AMP also has close connections to the campus protest movement. The organization’s chairman, Hatem Bazian, was involved in the founding of Students for Justice for Palestine, a group that has been highly visible in the campus protest movement.
American Muslims for Palestine denied any connection to, or support of, Hamas. The group’s attorney also said it had no involvement with a controversial protest “toolkit” that appeared after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
But experts said the presence of the group in the milieu of the protest movement is troubling. “Unless you believe Hamas is a good organization, I think there's reason to be concerned,” said Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, a leading independent scholar on Hamas.
Donald Trump spreads QAnon posts on Truth Social
Trump has long been celebrated by the QAnon conspiracy theory, and when he was in office, he spoke favorably of the ideas. Now a new study, provided exclusively to USA TODAY, outlines how Trump has shared hundreds of posts connected to the conspiracy theory on his own social media network.
The study, by liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, found that Trump has used Truth Social to repost or promote QAnon-affiliated accounts more than 800 times, ensuring their messages will be widely seen.
QAnon largely faded from the spotlight after Trump lost the 2020 election. But experts who study the conspiracy theory say its diehard followers never went away, and Trump’s boosting of QAnon catchphrases and imagery are injecting new life into the movement as the presidential election nears.
“I think it’s almost to be expected that – especially with the polling being close – that the Trump campaign is going to be back to its old tricks of trying to … cater to some of the conservative movement’s fringes,” Jared Holt, senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue told USA TODAY.
More than just a quirky conspiracy theory, QAnon has torn apart families. It has inspired alleged coups and launched cults, and several people reported to be obsessed with QAnon have committed murders.
Stat of the week: 23
That's the number of days between the attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA and Thursday, when Edan On was taken into custody. He had been identified the week earlier in a CNN report about counter-protesters who had attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Justice Alito and flags linked to conspiracy theories: What it means
