Democrat mayor of New York town orders disabled Vietnam veteran to take down Trump flag

The mayor of the Croton-on-Hudson town in New York has ordered that a disabled Vietnam veteran who has lived in the Village of Croton-on-Hudson community for 67 years has to take down his Trump flag because it does not comply with the community's "content-neutral code." The flag is on the man's property, and he has argued that the action goes against his First Amendment rights.

Leonard Amicola, the disabled veteran living in the community, has a flag that says, "Trump is my President," and has been hanging on his property between two trees since 2021. Amicola told News 12 that there have been "a few circumstances" of rocks being thrown at the flag as well as threats.

However, after the flag had been up for around four years, Croton-on-Hudson Mayor Brian Pugh ordered that the flag must come down because the village has a content-neutral code, which the mayor said has a "longstanding prohibition on banners" applied to all properties. Other properties have also been asked to remove their banners. He argued that it is a "straight forward code enforcement matter, not a free speech issue" and that residents need to hang such banners on flag poles.

Amicola had originally had a flagpole on his property, but moved the flag up between the two trees after it had been stolen from the pole. The town served him a violation notice earlier this summer, and Amicola's lawyers said that he was charged with violating the village code.

Amicola, as well as his attorneys, have said he will not be pleading guilty, and the lawyers said this "may be a matter we need to bring to federal court."