Trump Supporter Wakes Up To Burned Flag On Vermont Porch

Mahleeha Syed of USA Today wrote:

BURLINGTON, Vt. – A Vermont man who found his "Trump 2020" flag burned and thrown onto his front porch said he wished his lawn adornment had provoked a conversation rather than vandalism.

"Don't slither around in the hours of darkness," Gus Klein, of Burlington, said Monday evening, the day after the incident. "Come out and be a man or a woman and do the right thing."

Support for Donald Trump places Klein in a minority among residents of Vermont, who gave the president a 61 percent disapproval rating in an October Morning Consult poll.

Annmarie Klein was upset she and her husband were targeted. The couple said they believed the act was premeditated.

"They were angry and they were angry at us for having that flag up there," she said. "I feel watched."

Police didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the incident.

Vermont politics

Voters don’t register with a party in Vermont. In a primary, they are handed ballots for all the parties (there is a third major party – the Progressive Party) when they check in, fill out one and discard the rest.

Recent elections show the state tends to tilt Democrat or progressive, especially in federal elections.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has won three terms by comfortable margins.

And Vermont has voted for the Democratic candidate for president since 1992, choosing Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump 55.7 percent to 29.8 percent in 2016.

In the same year, Republican Phil Scott won the open seat for governor with 52 percent of the vote, versus 43.5 percent for Democrat Sue Minter in an election that gave Democrats overwhelming majorities in both the state House and Senate.

Scott won reelection this year besting Democratic Challenger Christine Hallquist 54.4 percent to 39.7 percent.

A couple of Republicans in Vermont

The couple, which has a history of voicing their political beliefs, say they've been targeted before.

When Annmarie Klein campaigned for George H.W. Bush in 1992, someone took her sign. She hopped in her car and chased after them.

"Which back then was pretty safe..." she said. "I was very confident they weren't going to shoot me or beat me up."

She later realized it probably was not worth the trouble.  

Another instance occurred at City Hall in the midst of Burlington's F-35 issue where the city sought an alternative to basing the F-35 jet at Burlington International Airport. Gus wore a Trump hat and they said a few people threw pamphlets and called him a "war monger" and "racist."

Gus' take on those who felt angry about his apparel: "I guess it's time to grow up."

Annmarie Klein said she believes people can forge relationships even if they hold opposing political beliefs.

"We got more in common than who we're voting for," she said.  

Gus said people are on edge, regardless of political party.

“When you peel the onion back, people are still struggling out there and people are having a difficult time making ends meet," he said. "So it doesn’t take much to fire some people up.”

How they navigate those conversations

Gus, an employee at General Dynamics, said he deals with differing opinions on a regular basis at work.

"But out of that group of individuals, we all have different views and different opinions and different candidates," he said. "We have candid conversations about political events and political agenda. But at the end of the day we all go our separate ways and we have conversations like grown adults should."

Annmarie said she often tries to avoid confrontation and weaves humor in tough conversations. She said her husband taught her how to effectively change subjects when necessary.

While she could have predicted the flag being taken or someone throwing something at it, the burning came as a shock to her.

"Granted with all the differences, I never thought that would happen," she said.

More Trump flags?

Though Kleins are on the same page in terms of their support for Trump, they have yet to come to full agreement on how many flags to fly.

Not only does Gus want to continue showing support for Trump on his property; he wants to increase the number of flags on display.

One will hang on the pole, where the original was. Another will rest next to the U.S. flag. And the final will sit at the peak of the house.

Annmarie, however, said she has not yet signed off on his plan.

Follow Maleeha Syed on Twitter: @MaleehaSyed89

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Trump supporter wakes up to burned flag on Vermont porch