Mara Gay is a media influencer. As a member of the New York Times editorial board, she has a lot of clout and influence in what gets reported and what doesn’t. Despite her day job being crucial to the news industry, Mara Gay startled viewers when she stated that there were many American flags flying in Long Island, New York, during a recent appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show.

According to Kaila Gay, the sight of so many American flags on pickup trucks “disturbed” her greatly. She had gone out of New York City and visited Long Island in order to see the numerous flags flying in response to a group of people who are concerned about nonwhites and immigrants.

“The reality is here that we have a large percentage of the American population — I don’t know how big it is, but we have tens of millions of Trump voters who continue to believe that their rights as citizens are under threat by simple virtue of having to share the democracy with others,” she stated.

Gay said, “I was on Long Island this weekend visiting a really dear friend, and I was really disturbed. I saw you know, dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with explicatives (sic) against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing because essentially the message was clear. It was, this is my country. This is not your country. I own this.”

Gay presented a fix for the problem. She feels that in order “to get every American a place at the table,” national leaders must work at separating “whiteness” from “Americanness.”

In response to her MSNBC appearance, Gay recounted her Long Island American flag story, mocking Mika Brzezinksi’s call for a deeper inquiry into the Trump supporter mob that ransacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Gay’s comments on the Morning Joe program, however, were met with open arms by many people; nevertheless, her assertion that America needs to change in order to be more inclusive for all kinds of people rather than just whites sparked a slew of vitriolic responses on social media.

“Why is skin color even being brought into this discussion?” tweeted Matt Haubrich. “This narrative is disgusting, and they keep peddling it, and Joe’s panel says nothing. I find people who group everyone in boxes very disturbing.”

“American flags is now considered hateful what the hell is going on with our country,” said another Twitter user.

Harry McNeir wrote on Twitter, “As a son of a WWII [veteran], I proudly display the American flag on the front of my house.”

More tweets were added by other users:

“Wow, dozens of American flags, the horror of it, lol.”

“Wait, now a pickup truck with an American flag is now racist?? What’s next saluting the American flag?”

What are your thoughts on these remarks about the American flag and whiteness made on MSNBC?