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Donald Trump's administration on Saturday was accused of promoting the Russian flag, on Flag Day.

The Department of Defense over the weekend wished social media a "Happy Flag Day!"

"Let us honor the emblem of our nation and the stars and stripes that unite us all. As we display our nations flag and reflect on the values it represents, let’s celebrate the freedom, courage and resilience that makes our country great," the department stated Saturday.

The image attached to the post included two small images that appear to represent the Russian flag.

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[-] ravenaspiring@sh.itjust.works 106 points 2 days ago
[-] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 70 points 2 days ago

Yeah, actual Russian collusion aside, anyone who thinks the horizontal stripes in that stylistic divider are supposed to be Russian flags is probably a prime target for ragebait like this.

And if this describes you, consider how the divider is reminiscent of the ribbon used to adorn many official medals. Has the US been secretly promoting the modern Russian flag for hundreds of years? Probably not.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

Official ribbons are red/white/blue I thought, not white/blue/red.

[-] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 11 points 1 day ago

You’re right, but I wouldn’t guess the intern they tasked with graphics design has ever looked too closely.

[-] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 18 points 1 day ago

Or the designer knew exactly what they were doing and pulled one over on leadership.

I haven’t seen someone suggest the designer knew this looked like the Russian flag and left it in there as a tongue in cheek criticism/metacommentary, but that’s what I would do.

[-] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 5 points 1 day ago

Lol you’re not alone. I think someone commented something similar last night. And you’d have plausible deniability too, since the blue is “accidentally” allowed to show between the white and red stripes.

[-] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 day ago

I don’t do a lot of design anymore, but I still wind up working on data visualizations a fair amount.
It’s both subversive and satisfying how well the various LGBTQ+ flag color combinations work when creating stacked area charts.

[-] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 3 points 1 day ago

Great idea! Many of them offer a nice color palette too. I’ll try it.

[-] baldingpudenda@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

With how incompetent, drunk, and high the cabinet is, I'm sure the prerequisite for underlings is being dumber than the people on top.

[-] brown567@sh.itjust.works 37 points 2 days ago

Oh c'mon! I hate Trump as much as the next guy, but I can't really see that as anything but an honest mistake.

There isn't even a blue bar in the middle, it's just transparency XD

Its in the wrong order. Red and white are always supposed to touch. Blue separating them is in the wrong spot. Whether intentional or because they're all idiots? Who can say.

red and white together would just look like a red bar and a white bar offset. it needs the blue between them to make visual sense. or i guess they could have used a different blue instead of a negative space

I wasn't talking about aesthetics, but the US Flag Code.

Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.

If you cannot display the union stars, then the color order should be (starting from the top): Blue, Red, White.

Red and White should always be next to each other. Putting the blue in the middle isn't an aesthetic thing, it's the wrong way to display the American flag colors without the union stars.

[-] lunarul@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

I think Hanlon's razor applies in this case

[-] Bristlecone@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Such a fucking stupid ass dog whistle, honestly the only thing maga does actually anymore is troll and hate

[-] aramis87@fedia.io 45 points 2 days ago

Every time I see something mild but stupid (like this) that's done by administration, all I can think of is that OSS sabotage manual that was like "make mistakes", lol.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 44 points 2 days ago

Hey, it's red, white, and blue, what more do you want? /s

🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

[-] FoxyFerengi@startrek.website 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This would have made more sense because at least the stripes are in order: 🇳🇱 ✨ 🇳🇱

[-] HK65@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 days ago

GEKOLONISEERD

[-] chocosoldier 2 points 1 day ago

blue in the middle makes sense because the background is blue, if it were on top or bottom it would be practically invisible.

[-] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 2 days ago

That's toothpaste and you know it.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

If your toothpaste is red, you may want to see a dentist! 😁

[-] ech@lemm.ee 3 points 2 days ago

If you're bleeding before you even brush, go to the doctor 😬

[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

one of my fave bits when someone mentions the "red white and blue" is to go "...North korea?"

[-] knight_alva@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago

I’m so tired of ragebait working.

[-] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

There is plenty to condemn this administration over, but this isn't one of them. To say that it glorifies the Russian Flag when they are clearly graphic design marks, with the actual flag right next to it, taking up about 1/3 of the image, is dumb.

Complaining about this is stupid. There are serious issues to focus on.

[-] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago

They probably planned this to distract people.

[-] BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz 17 points 2 days ago

I would Rather be RUSSIAN then AMERICAN!

-Patriots who LIVE in the USA!

[-] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

I hate trump as much as any reasonable person, but that’s just stretching it.

[-] chocosoldier 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

are you fucking kidding me?

they aren't fucking 1960s batman villains y'all, you're doing conspiracy-brain shit.

the stripes are not in "red white and blue" order because the blue stripe would disappear into the blue background. anyone who's ever taken an art class past grade school should realize this.

either a) it's a coincidence and the designer was not thinking about the Russian flag

or b) it's intentional with the above plausible deniability built-in so they can watch you throw a fit over it and chuckle among themselves about trump derangement or whatever dumb shit.

either way it doesn't mean anything and the most you should do is roll your eyes and focus on actual things of consequence.

at best you're sounding the alarm over pareidolia, at worst you're taking the bait. either way you're helping them to flood the zone with extraneous meaningless bullshit.

put down your clutching-pearls and go organize with your community, this is useless.

[-] damdy@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

Wtf is flag day? I knew you guys were really into your flags, but that seems a bit much.

[-] supernicepojo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Flag day was created as a propaganda tool to weed out socialist during the 40s. It has roots back to the Civil war in the 1850s. No one really celebrates it, I dont even think we get a day off for it.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

80% of American celebrations are propaganda tools

[-] chocosoldier 1 points 1 day ago

80% of Americans are propagandized tools.

[-] chocosoldier 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

one of several U.S. Jingoism days on our calendar. we also have:

President's Day

Memorial Day

Independence Day

"Labor" Day (lmao)

Veteran's Day

all of them are about MURICA FUCK YA and little else.

[-] barnaclebutt@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Very funny if someone did it as a troll

this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
366 points (100.0% liked)

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