Former President Trump posted a campaign ad on his Truth Social site praising various counter protesters on college campuses, including students who held up the U.S. flag.
“While campuses struggle to get control of their students, at UNC Chapel Hill, they are bringing order back,” the video begins.
The ad shows clips of pro-Palestinian students protesting across the country. It then shows photos and videos of students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill who held up the American flag at their campus’ demonstration.
Members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity were seen in viral posts holding up an American flag while activists threw items at them. The incident occurred Tuesday, when pro-Palestinian supporters replaced the American flag with a Palestinian flag.
The scene resonated with people across the country, and a GoFundMe was set up to throw the fraternity “a Rager.” It’s raised over $500,000 so far, including a $10,000 donation from billionaire investor Bill Ackman.
The ad continued, splicing together news segments from Fox News and “Primetime with Jesse Watters,” where they responded to the students who demonstrated.
The ad said the students “stood strong” despite being “pelted with bottles and rocks.” It called the UNC fraternity brothers the “most popular college students” and said they were “patriotic” for defending the American flag.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre praised the group’s actions. She said all Americans have the right to peacefully protest, but it’s not right to forcefully take down the American flag and replace it with another one. She said it was “admirable” to protect the American flag.
The UNC protest is one of many happening on college campuses across the country. Students are calling on their universities to divest from Israeli companies or companies that supply weapons to Israel in its war with Hamas.
Despite many protests remaining peaceful, a growing number of demonstrations have been met with counter protesters who support Israel.