While I don’t think Tom went about it the most tactful way, I think his point has some validity. Average Americans will react differently to pics of American flag holders being gassed than Mexican ones. To call him “astonishingly stupid” is astoundingly ridiculous.
Yes, I think Nichols like the other hypothetical centrists will just change to a different rationale for not supporting the protests at large. It will instead be about how they're dressed, what's on their signs, or how they refuse to cede to some other right wing optics narrative.
Ah, but no. Tom Nichols posted in favor of the No Kings protests. bsky.app/profile/radi...
At best you could say Nichols was arguing having more US flags could decrease dislike of the protesters, but I genuinely don't see the argument as valid that but for a flag these "centrists" would change their mind radically on immigration as a whole to one supporting the protesters affirmatively
"Yeah, I saw the local news about them taking away undocumented immigrants who'd been here 20 years while they were dropping off their kids at school, but it was really just seeing the US flag again that made me change my mind on it all 🙃"