Yosemite Staff Raises Upside-Down US Flag in Protest of Budget Cuts

February 28, 2025 TruthUSA

On February 22, a substantial gathering of outdoor enthusiasts convened at El Capitan, one of the most renowned rock formations globally, located in California’s Yosemite National Park, to witness the “Firefall”—a natural spectacle that manifests when the sun sets at just the right angle over the park’s Horsetail Fall, creating the illusion of flowing lava. However, this moment was overshadowed by the sight of an upside-down American flag hanging from the granite monolith near the waterfall.

As outlined by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Flag Code dictates that the union should be at the top and to the observer’s left when the flag is displayed. Additionally, it states that “the flag should never be shown upside down except as a signal of distress or extreme danger.” However, there are no specified legal consequences for violations of this code.

Reports indicate that Yosemite staff placed the upside-down flag as a protest against recent budget reductions, hiring freezes, and federal layoffs, elements of President Donald Trump’s budget plan, which was narrowly passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, permitting at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years.

A spokesperson for the National Park Service informed NTD that the agency “is aware of the unauthorized and inappropriate display that occurred at Yosemite National Park over the weekend.”

“The NPS does not support such actions, and the flag was taken down as soon as possible,” the spokesperson stated. “We are committed to protecting our national parks and will not tolerate any behavior that undermines their integrity. At this time, we have no further comments.”

The flag’s appearance coincided with an email dispatched to thousands of federal employees by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), mandating them to submit a report within 48 hours detailing five specific achievements from the previous week.

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk cautioned in a social media post that failing to meet this deadline could lead to termination.

On Monday, Trump informed reporters that Musk’s department has uncovered “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud.”

“Many individuals are unresponsive because they don’t even exist. That’s how poorly various parts of our government were managed,” Trump remarked, “So, by posing the question, ‘Tell us what you did this week,’ he’s effectively asking, ‘Are you truly working?’”

A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll revealed that 76 percent of participants back a “full-scale effort to identify and eliminate fraud and wastage in government,” while 77 percent support a “thorough examination of all government spending.”

As per a statement from the National Parks Conservation Association, over 700 National Park Service personnel nationwide have resigned in response to the Trump administration’s buyout offer, while nearly 1,000 employees are facing potential termination—and more than 2,000 seasonal and permanent park jobs have been cut across the country.

In light of the upside-down flag incident, Connecticut State Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) shared a quote in an Instagram post this week, purportedly from Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic at Yosemite whom Duff identified as a “disabled military veteran.” Carpenter reportedly acknowledged that he had provided the flag and assisted in positioning it.

“We’re raising awareness of what’s happening to the parks, which belong to every American,” the quote stated.

In his post, Duff asked his followers, “Are we heeding the words of one of our veterans?”

The image Duff included in his Instagram post was sourced from the San Francisco Chronicle, with a caption indicating that the flag was intended to “protest the thousands of federal job losses resulting from President Donald Trump’s administration.”

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