After all, he has made a "fashion statement" or two appearing clad in pants that appear to have been created by hacking up a stars and stripes flag (you can get into some serious trouble for that in the U.S.) and a shirt that incorporates the Union Jack.

WSJ: Tina Gaudoin on Style: Golf Fashion

Thompson said the veterans didn't have specific permission to raise the Gadsden flag, but they never needed specific permission to raise the Stars and Stripes on city property, either.

WSJ: City: No 'Don't Tread on Me' flag on public land

"In light of the thing that has happened with the terrorists, we thought we would fly the U.S. flag on the big pole in honor of the dead, " says Maurice Bessinger, a South Carolina restaurateur who had taken down the Stars and Stripes from flagpoles at his restaurants last year in protest of the removal of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse.

CNN: Tragedy prompts renewed patriotism

Early on, it was mostly young Mexican-Americans, people born in the U.S., who carried the Mexican flag, and it was mostly immigrants, the people from Mexico, who carry the stars and stripes.

NPR: Coordinating Flags at Immigration Marches