Several Republican members’ offices earlier this year each received an American flag with an “optical illusion” Nazi Swastika embedded in it, NBC News reported Thursday in what might be one of the most limp dick damage control stories ever concocted by this utterly dysfunctional party.
Or maybe just this week. “One of the sources, whose office received a flag back in January, said it was initially difficult to see the flag’s swastika with the naked eye, calling it an ‘optical illusion.’ But once they discovered the swastika in the center of the flag, they threw it out, the source said,” NBC News writes in the second and third of the just five sentences in the entire 19-sentence-long article to relate to these spectral US-Nazi Germany mashup flags. The others mention that the flags’ provenance is still unclear and that the US Capitol Police and House Administration Committee are investigating. The rest is the context in which and the sole reason why this article was printed.
Give NBC’s reporter a pass here. Access journalism requires eating some bullshit from time to time in order to maintain working relationships with sources. Plus article itself draws no direct connection between the mysterious January flags and the swastika seen on the cubicle of Angelo Elia, one of Ohio Republican Congressman Dave Taylor’s staffers, during a web meeting earlier this week.
It mentions it prominently – in fact there’s more about that one than the “optical illusion” flags. The reporter played along with some half-assed effort to introduce doubt in the minds of people who do not want to believe their party is the one on display in those texts between Young GOP leaders.
After all, even at this shitty resolution you can tell that this is a Hobby Lobby job. The subtle changes in color, the “embossing” making it obvious that these were strips of tape physically (and obviously meticulously) applied to the stripes of the US flag to form the Swastika. Any sort of digital artifact can also be ruled out because both the flag and the camera were stationary at that moment – and you’d only get that “rolling shutter effect” if the flag was on a digital display. Even then that’s a stretch for EVERYTHING else to look pretty normal and boring but somehow the flag’s all Reich-y.
Pareidolia strikes deep too. Two of the most recognizable if not THE most recognizable national symbols in the present day cannot be hidden within each other easily or subtly in any universe.
The story was weak and stupid and the NBC reporter wisely only gave it as much space as she felt she had to without making the direct connection. Plus why didn’t any outlets pick it up in January when it happened AND if the staffer who got the flag in January saw the hidden Swastika with their naked eye and threw it out right away then how did it survive in this other dude’s office another nine months? The whole lame attempt at creating doubt through NBC failed and that was the end of it.
Until…
'Optical illusion' swastika flags distributed to multiple congressional offices prompt investigation: sources https://t.co/tSaHNc3cDf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 17, 2025
Yeah, Fox News drew the connection that NBC didn’t. Or wouldn’t:
Multiple sources tell Fox News that what appeared to be a swastika flag in Republican Rep Dave Taylor’s DC office may actually be an American flag with a hidden pattern visible only on camera — an “optical illusion” similar to flags quietly delivered to dozens of congressional offices now under investigation.
The flag was spotted Wednesday in a photo of a staffer’s desk in Taylor’s office, prompting a vandalism investigation by US Capitol Police.
Sources, including those investigating the issue, said the American flag had a swastika embedded into the ink or weaving, making it hard to see with the naked eye. However, when captured on video or in a still image, they said the symbol becomes clear.
One source described the alleged manufacturing tactic as an “optical illusion.” Another said the swastika was “easy to miss.” The flag was seemingly one of many dropped off at dozens of congressional offices early in the year by an undetermined group.
One office staffer said the swastika on their flag was clear, so they tossed it out. However, sources noted the flag in the office of Taylor was not visible until captured on camera.
Good God, these people are such fucking worms. Especially with the blurred Swastika – ostensibly them hiding it from “sensitive” audiences because it’s soooo offensive – with the probably intended side-effect of not allowing them to examine it too closely to see that it isn’t an “optical illusion” and that anyone who insists that is completely full of shit and lying to you maliciously.
The upshot of this being that no, Angelo Elio will not be fired because he’s the victim of a horrible false flag operation intended to make young conservatives look like racist Neo-Nazis.