City officials in Columbus, Ohio, are facing questions and serious blowback after their Rec. and Parks department posted a tweet saying they planned to raise the flag to celebrate Independence Day.
What’s the big deal, you might ask.
Well, for starters, even though we are approaching our own 250th anniversary and the celebrations are already underway, the post wasn’t talking about the American flag — they were planning to honor the Somali flag for its Independence Day. Seriously. That’s some spectacularly terrible timing, considering massive Somali fraud in the U.S. is regularly at the top of the news cycle, and we should be focusing on our own Independence Day.
Rec. and Parks quickly took the post down after getting thrashed on social media, and city leaders jumped in to assert that no such thing was planned. But the internet lives forever:
Ohio’s capital city hoisting the flag of a foreign nation.
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) July 1, 2026
Posted and now deleted by @ColsRecParks. https://t.co/eHiwmB2fEm pic.twitter.com/bTywTWIMam
The post was “inaccurate,” according to the mayor’s office:
🚨 JUST IN: Columbus, Ohio has BACKTRACKED and will NOT raise the Somali flag to "celebrate Somali independence" today — Columbus mayor spokesman
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 1, 2026
This comes after they DELETED a post that sparked mass outrage
"A social media post created by a city department falsely stated that… pic.twitter.com/HtAmfRttSG
🚨 JUST IN: Columbus, Ohio has BACKTRACKED and will NOT raise the Somali flag to "celebrate Somali independence" today — Columbus mayor spokesman
This comes after they DELETED a post that sparked mass outrage
"A social media post created by a city department falsely stated that City Hall would raise the Somalian flag in recognition of Somali Independence Day. While the City recognizes and respects the aspirations of people around the world to live in freedom, this post was inaccurate and has been deleted." — per Columbus Dispatch
MORE: $250 Million Minnesota Fraudster Finally Nabbed — in Mogadishu
As Fraud Investigations Roll Through Minnesota, Mayor Frey Tells Somalis 'We See You As Family'
Naturally, reaction was swift and brutal against Columbus for this boneheaded idea. There’s only one flag that should be raised on the pole, said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH):
There is only one nation’s flag that should ever be flown on American government buildings or property.
— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) July 1, 2026
This action by Columbus is a total disgrace and takes away from the epic celebration on Saturday of this country’s 250 year celebration. https://t.co/rzIdxmYN8t
ACT for America founder Brigitte Gabriel rightfully blasted them:
🇺🇸This is AMERICA, not Little Somalia
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) July 1, 2026
Flying the Somali flag at City Hall isn’t “celebration.” It’s cultural surrender. Other nations aren’t parallel cultures here to dominate ours.
Remove that flag. Remove the officials who demand it. https://t.co/Esip6QML28
GOP Rep. Brian Stewart (OH-12) noted that we should be encouraging assimilation, not patronizing newcomers:
If Somalia is such a failed state that we need to take in tens of thousands of its citizens as “refugees,” then we really don’t need to be celebrating its supposed “independence” with patronizing posts on social media. One more way in which we encourage the refusal to assimilate. https://t.co/V2l46urZ2G
— Brian Stewart (@BrianStewartOH) July 1, 2026
And, simply:
Excuse me? https://t.co/QPAMcCNpvx
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) July 1, 2026
It’s unclear who came up with this obnoxious idea or if there were actually official City Hall plans in place to raise the flag of an East African country. It’s possible it was just a dumb intern or woke staffer fantasizing. These days, however, it’s all too believable that a blue city really might do such a thing just days before the Fourth of July.
Whatever the case, someone or some people should get their pink slips pronto.
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