CNN’s Garcia-Navarro: Democrats have ceded the American flag to Republicans

CNN contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro argued Thursday that the Democratic Party has largely abandoned the tradition of embracing the American flag, telling her fellow panelists on “The Arena” that the party has effectively handed patriotic symbolism to the GOP.

“I actually think the Democratic Party writ large has stepped away from the rallying around the flag,” Ms. Garcia-Navarro said during the panel segment on host Kasie Hunt’s afternoon program, adding that Republicans “have allowed” themselves to own patriotism as an issue. She went further, suggesting that if someone sees an American flag today, “you are going to assume that that person is a Republican.” 

Ms. Hunt pushed back on the characterization in real time, asking, “Are we really there?” Ms. Garcia-Navarro insisted the divide is real, prompting Ms. Hunt to counter that such assumptions might hold on the coasts but not in “Middle America.” Ms. Garcia-Navarro, who described herself as coming from an immigrant family, maintained that in many ways the country has lost a unifying sense of pride, pointing to what she called a decline in civics education in schools.

She was not alone on the panel in describing a fraying sense of national unity. Republican strategist Kevin Madden agreed that the country has lost the ability to “rally around the flag,” while CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams argued the erosion of trust cuts across party lines and traces largely to President Trump’s rhetoric rather than partisanship in general.

The exchange came the same day Gallup reported that American pride has fallen to its lowest point in the pollster’s trend dating back to 2001, with just 33% of adults saying they are “extremely proud” to be American ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The survey, conducted June 1-15, found a stark partisan split: 70% of Republicans described themselves as extremely proud, compared with just 14% of Democrats and 28% of independents — both record lows for those two groups. In that same Gallup poll, respondents were also asked whether they display an American flag outside their home; 69% of Republicans said they do, compared with 42% of independents and 26% of Democrats.

CNN senior political commentator Rahm Emanuel offered a more optimistic counterpoint on the panel, pointing to citizenship ceremonies he presided over as a former U.S. ambassador and arguing that “the power of America is its ability to always renew.”