"SICK" and "INSANE"
MN-06 Daily: July 9, 2026
Two posts this week, two characterizations of other people’s words. In both cases, the primary source is a click away.
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12 tweets across two accounts. 0 town halls. 0 floor votes (House in recess). 2 characterizations of other people’s words. 0 links to the transcript or the flag code.
1,065 days since Rep. Emmer’s last in-person town hall — August 9, 2023 — Hamburg, MN
33 days until the August 11 primary.
Story 1: “SICK”
On July 9, Rep. Emmer posted from his personal account (@tomemmer): “UNBELIEVABLE! Upside-down American flags are being flown in my district.” He called it “SICK,” and blamed “America-last officials like @IlhanMN in Minnesota.” The post responds to an Alpha News report — a partisan outlet; we have not independently confirmed the underlying event — describing an inverted U.S. flag at a St. Cloud Somali Independence Day celebration.
Two things are on the public record about the symbol he condemned.
First, flying the U.S. flag inverted is expressive conduct. The U.S. Flag Code describes it as a signal “of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property,” and it has been used as a protest symbol on both the left and the right for decades. As symbolic speech, it sits in the same First Amendment category the Supreme Court addressed in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) — the flag-burning cases.
Second, the same inverted flag flew outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021, days after the Capitol attack, where it was documented as a “Stop the Steal” symbol (The New York Times, May 2024). When that reporting surfaced, most Republicans defended Alito; Sen. Lindsey Graham called the display “not good judgment,” and Sen. Thom Tillis called it “probably unwise” — a notably softer register than “SICK.”
And on the adjacent form of the same expression — flag burning — President Trump signed an executive order on August 25, 2025 directing prosecution of those who burn the flag, saying at the signing, “If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail.” That is the expression Texas v. Johnson protects.
Emmer is free to call a flag display sick; condemning speech is itself speech. And St. Cloud sits in MN-06 — his own district — not in Rep. Omar’s MN-05, which covers Minneapolis.
When the same inverted flag flies for a cause you support, is it still “SICK” — and does symbolic protest with the flag get First Amendment protection, or not?
Story 2: “INSANE”
On July 8, Emmer posted (@tomemmer): “This might be the DUMBEST statement I’ve heard from the leftists in Minnesota. Let me be clear: Keith Ellison would rather spend your hard-earned taxpayer dollars on FRAUD rather than public safety. INSANE!”
The statement he’s characterizing is Attorney General Keith Ellison’s July 7 interview on The Dean Obeidallah Show. We’ve published the full transcript so readers can check it directly: mn06watch.com/transcripts/ellison-dean-obeidallah-show-20260707.pdf.
Here is what the transcript shows. Ellison is discussing a petition by centrist House Democrats — Reps. Tom Suozzi and Josh Gottheimer among roughly eight signers — pledging to defend capitalism. His argument is that public services are collectively funded through taxes. On policing specifically, he says: call the cops, “guess who pays them? Your tax dollars… That’s socialism, pal,” and lists “police department or fire department or water inspection or public works” as examples. In other words, he names police and fire as public spending he defends.
The transcript contains no statement about fraud, and none about Minnesota spending priorities. The only reference to “fraud” in the interview is about the President’s New York hush-money case. Ellison does not disparage public safety; he cites it as a core function of collective spending.
There is a real, fair criticism defense of his actions available to him. As Minnesota Attorney General, Ellison’s office is responsible for prosecuting benefits-fraud cases, including the Feeding Our Future prosecutions, and Republicans have argued the office moved too slowly. That is a legitimate line of accountability. It is also entirely separate from the July 7 interview, which is about capitalism and public services — not fraud.
When the transcript is one click away, which statement in it describes a preference for “FRAUD rather than public safety”?
What He Tweeted
Both accounts, since the last Daily. (@GOPMajorityWhip shown in navy, @tomemmer in red)
What He Didn’t Mention
That St. Cloud — where the flag was reportedly flown — is in MN-06, the district he represents, not Rep. Omar’s MN-05. Yet he mentioned her on his own.
That the inverted flag is protected symbolic expression, that the same symbol flew outside Justice Alito’s home after January 6, or that President Trump’s August 2025 order seeks to jail people for the adjacent expression of burning it.
That the July 7 Ellison transcript names police and fire as the public spending Ellison defends — and contains no reference to fraud.
That the House is in recess and MN-06 has now gone 1,065 days without an in-person town hall.
The Questions
Submitted to Rep. Emmer via his official contact form:
You called an upside-down flag “SICK.” The same inverted flag flew outside Justice Alito’s home after January 6, 2021, and most Republicans defended him. Do you apply the same standard to both displays?
President Trump’s August 25, 2025 executive order directs prosecution of flag burning — expression protected under Texas v. Johnson. Do you support criminalizing symbolic protest involving the flag?
St. Cloud is in MN-06, the district you represent — not Rep. Omar’s MN-05. Why attribute an event in your own district to a member who represents Minneapolis?
Your July 8 post said AG Keith Ellison “would rather spend… on FRAUD rather than public safety.” Which statement in the July 7 interview are you referring to? The published transcript shows him citing police and fire as public spending he defends.
It has been 1,065 days since your last in-person town hall (August 9, 2023, Hamburg). When will MN-06 constituents get another?
We are still awaiting a response to all previous submissions.
Share it with someone in MN-06.
📊 Source Data:
@tomemmer, posts of July 7–9, 2026 (personal account)
@GOPMajorityWhip, posts of July 6–9, 2026 (official Majority Whip account)
AG Keith Ellison, The Dean Obeidallah Show, July 7, 2026 — full transcript: mn06watch.com/transcripts/ellison-dean-obeidallah-show-20260707.pdf
U.S. Flag Code, 4 U.S.C. § 8(a) (display of the flag)
Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989); United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990)
The New York Times, reporting on the Alito inverted-flag display (May 2024); Graham and Tillis reactions via CBS News
Executive Order, “Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag,” whitehouse.gov, August 25, 2025
Alpha News, report of an inverted flag at a St. Cloud Somali Independence Day event (partisan source; underlying event not independently confirmed)
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