# I saw a Trump supporter flying a USSR flag on his truck today **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 27, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881 "2025-05-27T22:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/1 "2025-05-27T22:57:51Z")
Was driving through downtown Grand Rapids this afternoon and saw a pickup with massive tires, clouds of black smoke billowing out of the exhaust pipes and… the flag of the Soviet Union waving on a pole attached to the back bumper. As I got closer, I saw some stickers with weird symbols that I didn’t recognize, an NRA sticker and a couple Trump stickers. I pulled up next to the guy and he was an early 30-something dude with long hair and a beard. An ugly dog was hanging out the back window barking his fool head off at traffic. The driver enjoyed flooring his truck every chance he got to spew out more black smoke into the cars behind him. Is this a thing now? Are some MAGAs going full-on Soviet? Or was this guy just some attention-seeking troll? ---
**Author:** ![Nightaudit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightaudit/32/17181_2.png) [@Nightaudit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightaudit)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/2 "2025-05-27T23:05:23Z")
Or really meta trolling the MAGAts …. Trump is a little bit like Stalin in his capricious manner. There not a lot of difference between ICE and the NKVD… GULAG = El Salvador prison ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/3 "2025-05-27T23:21:31Z")
Remember when the Republicans could be counted on to be rabidly anti-communist without any cognitive dissonance involved in admiring Russia’s strongman leader? Yeah, I miss those days. I think it died around the time McCain aid of meeting Putin: “I looked into his eyes and saw three letters: a K, a G and a B." > [@Nightaudit](#): > > There not a lot of difference between ICE and the NKVD And we can’t even make it seven minutes without the insane hyperbole. You’re not doing the anti-MAGA crowd any favors by making ludicrous statements like this. ICE is shitty enough as it is, but for some reason I can’t seem to find any of the mass graves of the people they’ve apparently been executing by the tens of thousands at a time. You know. Like the NKVD did all the time. [Documenting the Death Toll: Research into the Mass Murder of Foreigners in Moscow, 1937-38 – AHA](https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/documenting-the-death-toll-research-into-the-mass-murder-of-foreigners-in-moscow-1937-38-may-1999/) [Kurapaty (1937-1941): NKVD Mass Killings in Soviet Belarus | Sciences Po Violence de masse et Résistance - Réseau de recherche](https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/kurapaty-1937-1941-nkvd-mass-killings-soviet-belarus.html) [The Katyn Massacre – Mechanisms of Genocide | Warsaw Institute](https://warsawinstitute.org/katyn-massacre-mechanisms-genocide/) [NKVD prisoner massacres - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NKVD_prisoner_massacres) [Great Purge - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge) > Scholars estimate the death toll for the Great Purge (1936–1938) to be roughly 700,000–1.2 million. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/4 "2025-05-27T23:46:54Z")
You don’t think something like this could happen eventually? We’re already imprisoning people for life without due process, I feel like that’s not as bad as murder, but only marginally. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/5 "2025-05-27T23:53:42Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > You don’t think something like this could happen eventually? We’re already imprisoning people for life without due process Look, just because we’re sending people ~~in trains~~ in planes to ~~concentration camps~~ prisons in ~~Poland~~ El Salvador doesn’t mean there’s any indication that _it_ can happen here. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/6 "2025-05-27T23:55:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > We’re already imprisoning people for life without due process We were already doing that with Guantanamo. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > You don’t think something like this could happen eventually? You don’t think it’s extremely hyperbolic to compare an organization that xenophobically deports 'forners - and has done so during several Democratic administrations, mind you - with one that murdered ‘enemies of the state’ by the millions? > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Look, just because we’re sending people ~~in trains~~ in planes to ~~concentration camps~~ prisons in ~~Poland~~ El Salvador doesn’t mean there’s any indication that _it_ can happen here. And there’s Godwin. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/7 "2025-05-28T00:06:59Z")
With Mike’s blessing, > **[Creator of Godwin's Law Says It's OK—and Necessary—to Compare Trump to Hitler...](https://www.commondreams.org/news/godwins-law-trump)** > > "Those of us who hope to preserve our democratic institutions need to underscore the resemblance before we enter the twilight of American democracy." ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/8 "2025-05-28T00:17:45Z")
Only we’re not comparing TFG to Hitler. We’re comparing ICE to the NKVD. Or in your case, the Final Solution. Which again, doesn’t help combat the actual threat of fascism from TFG when you start comparing ICE, which, again, has existed and functioned since 2003 under several Democratic administrations to the NKVD, who’s entire point of existence was to root out and murder enemies of the Communist party, real or imagined. Or in your case, to compare the xenophobic deportations to foreign prisons to [extermination camps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extermination_camps). Not concentration camps. [_Vernichtungslager_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extermination_camp) were very different from [_Konzentrationslager_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/9 "2025-05-28T05:51:06Z")
Question for the OP: Was it a Russian flag or a Soviet Union flag? ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/10 "2025-05-28T10:36:32Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Question for the OP: Was it a Russian flag or a Soviet Union flag? > [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > and… the flag of the Soviet Union waving on a pole attached to the back I think the answer was already given. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/11 "2025-05-28T12:45:54Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > And we can’t even make it seven minutes without the insane hyperbole. You’re not doing the anti-MAGA crowd any favors by making ludicrous statements like this. And that’s _exactly_ why that guy’s flying that flag, I’ll bet. Because it gets some people extremely wound up and frantic, and he thinks that’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/12 "2025-05-28T13:16:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > And that’s _exactly_ why that guy’s flying that flag, I’ll bet. Yep. Trollery. They WANT to make everyone else angry. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/13 "2025-05-28T13:23:23Z")
It’s like he’s waving a red flag in front of someone. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/14 "2025-05-28T13:52:02Z")
I agree that there’s probably some trollery involved, but it’s not a big stretch from the dudes at the trump 1.0 rally wearing “[I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/U7666VU45QI6RKGYTNGBGKDNNM.jpg&w=1800&h=1800)” t-shirts…to flying the flag of the former Soviet Union during trump 2.0. > [@Dissonance](#): > > Remember when the Republicans could be counted on to be rabidly anti-communist without any cognitive dissonance Poster of the Week award for working one’s username effortlessly into the text of a post 😏 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/15 "2025-05-28T14:08:49Z")
It would be a shame if he were to have trouble keeping air in his tires. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/16 "2025-05-28T14:37:19Z")
I keep thinking of the lyrics from “The Boys of Summer” when I see the thread title… _Out on the road today_ _I saw a Soviet banner on a redneck truck_ _A little voice inside my head said_ _“What a dumb fuck, stupid MAGA fuck"_ – Apologies to Don Henley ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/17 "2025-05-28T15:24:18Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I agree that there’s probably some trollery involved, but it’s not a big stretch from the dudes at the trump 1.0 rally wearing “[I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/U7666VU45QI6RKGYTNGBGKDNNM.jpg&w=1800&h=1800)” t-shirts…to flying the flag of the former Soviet Union during trump 2.0. I’ve long wanted to have a t-shirt that shows the map of the US with red states and blue states with the legend “better dead than red.” What’s stopping me is that I’m sure most people are too young to get the reference. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/18 "2025-05-28T15:59:23Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > It would be a shame if he were to have trouble keeping air in his tires. It would be even more of a shame if someone accidentally spilled paint stripper all over his trollmobile. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/19 "2025-05-28T23:37:34Z")
He probably is too young to know what The Soviet Union was, and just thinks it’s an ordinary Russian flag. If he’s really about 30, it would not shock me that he did not know about the Soviet Union. I lived there when I was 10, in Moscow, and when I mention it to young people, and I don’t mean teens, I mean up to 35, it’s shocking how many people have no idea what it was. College educated people. Course, even in the 1970s, plenty of people did not understand the distinction between “Russia,” and “The Soviet Union,” including a middle school social studies teacher of mine. Man was that guy a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881/20 "2025-05-29T00:22:09Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Remember when the Republicans could be counted on to be rabidly anti-communist without any cognitive dissonance involved in admiring Russia’s strongman leader? Yeah, I miss those days. I think it died around the time McCain aid of meeting Putin: “I looked into his eyes and saw three letters: a K, a G and a B." I think the anti-communism of those days isn’t just gone, but the debate has now shifted to a different axis. IMHO the fault line in the present day US isn’t one about competing economic systems, with Adam Smith capitalists on one side and Karl Marx communists on the other. It’s about the form of government, with Thomas Jefferson small d democrats one side vs. Donald Trump authoritarians on the other. As far as the fact that the MAGAs embrace Putin, fly Soviet flags, say they would rather be Russian than a Democrat, etc. IMHO that is their way of signaling that they care more about the authoritarian vs. democracy debate than the capitalism vs. communism debate. IMHO they care so much more about the authoritarian to democracy axis than the communist to capitalist axis that they would support an authoritarian communist\* over a democratic capitalist. That’s what I take away from such displays. \*. Of course such a beast doesn’t really exist in the present day US government (maybe Tulsi Gabbard comes close ?), which is why they take to symbols rather than saying “we support John Doe - authoritarian communist (R) instead of their (D) democratic capitalist opponent.” But if such a candidate did exist, I bet they would support an authoritarian communist over a democratic capitalist. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-trump-supporter-flying-a-ussr-flag-on-his-truck-today/1018881.md?page=2)