The Trump administration has shot back at a Washington Post article claiming the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) watered down its policy prohibiting the display of Nazi swastikas, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calling the report “a demonstrably false storyline.”
“The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — as a hate symbol, according to a new policy that takes effect next month,” WaPo‘s Tara Copp and Michelle Boorstein wrote Thursday.
“Instead, the Coast Guard will classify the Nazi-era insignia as ‘potentially divisive’ under its new guidelines,” the authors continued. “The policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the classification of nooses and the Confederate flag, though display of the latter remains banned, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.”
In response to the report, USCG spokeswoman Jennifer Plozai said the service disagreed with the outlet’s framing but said they would be “reviewing the language” of the policy.
The service’s acting commandant, Admiral Kevin Lunday, denied the claims in a post on X:
“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false,” Lunday wrote Thursday afternoon. “These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy.”
“Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished,” he continued. “The Coast Guard remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace. Symbols such as swastikas, nooses and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.”
Lunday also sent a memo to all USCG personnel later in the day, reiterating that “divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited.”
A press release noted that the memo was “not an updated policy but a new policy to combat any misinformation and double down that the U.S. Coast Guard forbids these symbols.”
DHS, the agency the USCG falls under, called out WaPo for taking a “victory lap” over Lunday’s memo that explicitly labeled “a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups” as “hate symbols.”
“The @washingtonpost is trying to take a victory lap for smearing the @USCG and manufacturing a demonstrably false storyline that the U.S. Coast Guard no longer forbids or otherwise downgraded the forbiddance of swastikas, nooses etc,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “This ‘reporting’ was accurately labeled FAKE.”
“There’s no ‘backtracking,’” she continued. “The 2025 policy is not changing — USCG issued a lawful order that doubles down on our *current* policies prohibiting the display, distribution or use of hate symbols by Coast Guard personnel.”
McLaughlin added, “It is unfortunate that the Coast Guard must take time away from its mission to protect our nation to respond to these baseless smears and revolting lies from the media.”
DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar added on X that the article was a “complete and total lie,” calling the publication “absolute garbage.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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