November 22, 2025

"In a stunning and hasty reversal, the U.S. Coast Guard announced late Thursday that swastikas and nooses are prohibited hate symbols..."

"... erasing an attempt to soften their definition after the plan elicited furious backlash. The abrupt policy change occurred hours after The Washington Post first reported that the service was about to enact new harassment guidelines that downgraded the meaning of such symbols of fascism and racism, labeling them instead 'potentially divisive.'"

From "In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols/The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as 'potentially divisive' under guidelines set for release next month" (WaPo).

Interesting. I note that Trump was asked about the policy at his press conference — the one with Mamdani — yesterday, and Trump said he didn't know about it:

 

Reporter: "There was this explosive report that the Coast Guard is no longer going to characterize swastikas and nooses as hate symbols. DHS called that a lie and fake news. Can you clear up?"

Trump: "I don't know anything about it. When when was this written?"

Reporter: "I think yesterday. 

Trump: "Well, look, the Coast Guard's an incredible group of people. I know them very well. We just ordered a lot of new Coast Guard cutters. Beautiful. The most magnificent ship. They look like yachts with lots of guns on them. Uh, so I don't know. I haven't seen any report like that. But certainly we want them to remain a great force and they are."

Whether he knew about the new policy or not before that little colloquy, it got publicly aired yesterday, and it quickly changed. 

43 comments:

Leland said...

What evidence supported the original claim?

Once written, twice... said...

Unfortunately for the country, as things continue to disintegrate in Trump world, the chaos in our government will only get worse.

Jamie said...

I think I read on X a couple of days ago (? I'm suffering time dilation) that it was being reported that the USCG did not (ever? Or newly?) prohibit these symbols - reporting that was immediately countered by the USCG as baseless rumor, and reaffirmed that these symbols had long been prohibited But I am very bad at finding things that I once read on X, so I cannot confirm.

Just gonna ask - how likely is it that a Trump-eta military organization would say, "We're provisionally ok with swastikas, but don't go crazy with them because they're 'potentially divisive'"? At least, in any context other than the fevered imaginings of the left, or possibly in a case of undermining from the inside?

chuck said...

Changed, or clarified? The WaPo is not an accurate source of news.

boatbuilder said...

Bill Glahn of Powerline has the number of this sort of media-generated nonsense:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/11/the-epstein-iterations.php

Once written, twice... said...

It is also now totally clear that Putin has been extorting Neville Chamberlain Trump for all of these years. Putin is now trying to cash in all of his chips before Neville Chamberlain Trump still has some power to do damage.

Peachy said...

This is bad news for the Jussie smolettes of the world.

Dagwood said...

"It is also now totally clear that Putin has been extorting Neville Chamberlain Trump...."

Poor deranged OCD sufferers. One minute he's Hitler, the next he's Chamberlain. Hope you remembered to click the 'auto-ship' button for your online order of Preparation H.

Randomizer said...

Of course the president doesn't know about every policy and issue in the federal government. Trump doesn't say that, but goes in a different direction.

Everyone in the Coast Guard is happy about being called "an incredible group of people."

The rest of us are thinking that we would sure like to see one of them new cutters. A magnificent yacht with lots of guns sounds pretty nice.

bagoh20 said...

"as things continue to disintegrate"

https://youtu.be/42822uWT9Zk?t=25

Bob Boyd said...

Trump: What's important is that we have incredible people serving and that we get them what they need to do the difficult, sometimes dangerous job we ask them to do.

Dems: What's important is symbol classification...

What are we talking about? Tattoos? Like Platner's Nazi skull?

Peachy said...

Dagwood
😂

rehajm said...

There was this explosive report

…so is this a regular ordinance update or did the file folder the report was in spontaneously erupt?

Beasts of England said...

Has Kak changed his profile back to Once?

Joe Bar said...

There was probably some language in the regulations about symbology "prejudicial to good order", bug hot calling it these symbols directly.

In any case, they corrected the record this morning.

Peachy said...

The noose used to be the symbol of old western justice and cruelty towards African Slaves...
Now it's just a leftwing virtue signal for a fake crime.

Joe Bar said...

Autocorrect on this tablet stinks.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I don’t know if the story is true but I’ll take the contrary position. Not all nooses are hate symbols. Sometimes they’re used as garage door pulls, props in movies or executions, etc. It’s a very useful knot.

A swastika, as I understand it and I could be wrong, is either a religious or cultural symbol to Hindus for good luck (or something positive anyway). Would banning the swastika be discrimination against Indians?

Maybe if those items are classified as hate symbols, innocent people get bounced for no good reason on a zero tolerance policy.

Peachy said...

Hitler's 3rd Reich ruined the Swastika symbol. That's just the way it is.
anyway - symbols are very important to the collective left.
Especially sexual and gender symbols plastered in your 1st-6th grade classrooms.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Added to say Peachy makes an excellent point. I too remember when the noose, gripped in the hand of a black person, was a symbol of black power and resistance to white supremacy. How far the libs have fallen.

Saint Croix said...

Maybe Graham Platner is applying for a Coast Guard gig as a back up plan. And they want to help him serve.

Platner served in the Marines and the Army. Should he be dishonorably discharged retroactively?

Peachy said...

Finally - the proof needed for the corrupt left to impeach Trump.

Saint Croix said...

Is Graham Platner facing "furious backlash" or mild disapproval? Maybe people with Nazi tattoos ought not to be in the U.S. Senate.

Josephbleau said...

The wapo had to lie about the coast guard because the Democrat from Maine had a nazi tattoo, the kids from wapo always wanted to be in the cia. Disgraceful.

boatbuilder said...

A lie travels halfway around the world while truth is lacing its' boots.

bagoh20 said...

Limiting the number of rope knots available to sailing men is misguided.

rhhardin said...

It's good to have official hate symbols in case you want to hate somebody.

boatbuilder said...

Next month Inga will be telling us that Trump wanted swastikas painted on all Coast Guard ships but was talked out of it...

Ampersand said...

Swastikas are hate symbols, unless used for historical purposes. Nooses are pieces of rope tied in a knot that can be useful when you need to hold something in place.

This whole business of cordoning things off as "hate" is reminiscent of the absurdity invoked by the "you said Yahweh" stoning scenes in Life of Brian.

bagoh20 said...

I rarely have a use for a noose, but doodling swastikas can calm the mind.

Achilles said...

Once written, twice... said...

It is also now totally clear that Putin has been extorting Neville Chamberlain Trump for all of these years. Putin is now trying to cash in all of his chips before Neville Chamberlain Trump still has some power to do damage.

I love to see Democrats live out their Dick Cheney fantasies.

Old and slow said...

The is a really cool historic hotel in Mountainair New Mexico that is absolutely plastered with swastikas. Of course it predates Hitler's rise...

https://cityofdust.blogspot.com/2012/01/shaffer-hotel-mountainair-new-mexico.html

wildswan said...

The left continues its attempts to show that Trump is a fascist autocrat even as he meets with an acknowledged socialist and talks of their common interest in helping New York City. The left is using its media command to babble-on about pictures while Trump continues develop effective policies.

And talking to Mamdani is effective policy. Mamdani boiled the economic crisis (which exists outside NYC) down to the word "affordability" and proposed pie-in-the sky "solutions." But it is short-sighted to only look at the "solutions." Socialists are generally pretty good at pointing out problems - which they do not fear to do because their ideology tells them there are easy solutions. And their opposition sometimes makes the mistake of ignoring the problems socialists are raging on about because the socialist solutions are so fantastic and dissociated from reality. Trump avoided this trap, associating himself with the effort to alleviate the problem but not with any specifics. Rent control was morphed into the need for more housing and Trump the builder was offering to help there. And why not?

Big government became unaffordable because too much was centralized and because waste, fraud and abuse drained money from good programs. Trump, by decentralizing cutting waste, fraud and abuse is making important programs affordable again. Mamdani would be well-advised to similarly attack over-centralization and waste and fraud in NYC programs. I doubt if he will - centralized corruption is what allures the average socialist politician and leads them to ignore the promotion of universal incompetence in place of real change.

gadfly said...

The most common of Trump's lies is "I don't know anything about it." It really means "I won't answer the question because I haven't dreamed up a stupid answer yet."

Unfortunately, Don's smart Uncle John, the electrical engineer from MIT, never served in the Coast Guard and never talked to our fascist president about swastikas,

William said...

To my certain knowledge, the Dept of War has not passed an ordinance forbidding the serving of dog feces in the mess halls of our military organizations, nor has the President himself spoken out against this practice. What is to keep the military from serving dog feces in chow halls unless prompt action is taken. The fact that the President hasn't spoken out against this practice, just makes it far more likely to happen. Silence is consent.

Bob Boyd said...

Symbol classification is an important tool our glorious military's political officers need to keep us all safe.

hombre said...

(9:05) “Neville Chamberlain Trump” do we have a new delusional nitwit or have I just not been paying attention?

n.n said...

Also, Rainbows, a symbol of albinophobia, banners with fists, PP, etc, and other images celebrating Diversity (i.e. bloc ideologies).

Peachy said...

Doesn't it feel like a D- hack media gotcha again?

Peachy said...

gadfly - stick with the Biden-Cheney cabal - your speed.

n.n said...

#HateLovesAbortion

Ampersand said...

WaPo's breathless description of the policy amendment as "stunning" expresses the sadness they felt when a dumb gotcha evaporates. They were hoping to keep this in the news cycle for a few more days.
You don't despise these people enough.

Leland said...

It seems if an official announcement is made by the government, the media reports it as Trump Administration claims without evidence regardless of what evidence is actually provided. But if an anonymous tip claims anything, it is reported as gospel truth regardless how absurd or contrary to evidence it appears at face value.

Post a Comment

Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.