As he runs it up one of the poles, its design becomes apparent. It’s the United States flag, but upside-down — historically used as a sign of distress. At the bottom, printed in black block lettering, it reads: “WE ARE NOT OKAY.”
Despite its right-wing origins, it’s a fitting flag for the crowd at the Capitol, which has been the site of protests nearly every day since Donald Trump was reelected to the presidency. And for Brown, that’s exactly the point. He’s not here to yell and picket and chant, though he doesn’t mind selling his wares to those who are. His booth — with flags of all colors and designs and political affiliations sprouting from poles 20 feet in the air, looking more like an art installation than a place of commerce — has something for everybody.
He hoists a black flag that reads “Mexico” in brown lettering with a bird above it. Next, he strings up a Mexican flag, then a rainbow flag that reads “MAKE AMERICAN GAY AGAIN” and a blue-white-and-pink trans flag with the Mexican coat of arms in the middle. Another pole features a Black Lives Matter flag and a black flag that reads “FUCK TRUMP” in rainbow lettering. Brown designed that last one himself.
Brown’s flags go for $25, which he calls “half-off.” He’s not above haggling, though. Sometimes, he sells flags for $19 or $20, depending on how much cash a customer has on hand.
Tall and wearing a plaid blue flannel shirt and a straw cowboy hat, Brown has been at this location on recent Mondays as protesters have descended on the Capitol. He’ll be there again whenever Arizonans want to exercise their right to public assembly. On other days, though, he’ll be on the side of the Carefree Highway, where his flags on offer will look much different. There will be “Make America Great Again” flags, the Confederate flag, Arizona Cardinals flags and even a Trump-marijuana flag.
Brown is in the flag-hustling business, as he calls it, and a good flag-hustler seeks a broad clientele. He’s sold flags at music festivals like Florence’s County Thunder and was once arrested for selling flags outside of sporting events in the South. He’s peddled flags at dozens of Trump rallies across the country, which has been “really successful.” He’s also hoofed it to Washington, D.C., to sell flags at presidential inaugurations, including Trump’s earlier this year. He was even at the Jan. 6 insurrection, which Brown says was his “biggest day in the flag business ever.”
Brown isn’t particular about his customers. He’s “a true capitalist,” he says. If they have something they want to say, he’d love to sell them a flag that says it.
“Some people don’t have a big mouth like me and they still want to say something,” he says. “And the flag is the way they can do that.”
Jeff Brown sells a flag to Marie Siegfried at the "No Kings on Presidents' Day" protest.
Morgan Fischer
Flag-hustlin’
For Brown, flag-hustling has been the family business for more than two decades.Brown grew up in Washington state, where he still spends part of the year. He used to own general stores in Washington and Oregon, selling a much more eclectic array of products. He stocked Christmas trees and pumpkins. He sold car speakers. Then, 23 years ago, a friend that Brown describes as “a likable drunk” flew a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag at his pumpkin patch. Brown bought one and then began stocking them in his store.
The flags were popular and Brown saw an opportunity. He built relationships with wholesalers and bought flags wherever he could. Soon, he’d built up a wide catalog of flags and decided to make a change. He was going to go all in on the flag business.
Business has been good. Brown sells the flags online at JBFlags.com. He sells them in person and on the road in his silver 1999 Ford pickup, which pulls a flag-filled trailer that many erroneously assume hauls horses. The business makes enough money to “support myself and support my kids” — all eight of them. Several of the Brown clan help him move product, and Brown says his daughter paid for law school by hustling flags at music festivals.
The key is to not limit your potential customer base. “Most people, they can’t get past their stuff. They’ll only sell Trump flags or they’ll only sell military or they only sell rainbow things,” Brown says. “I’m weird because I kind of personally agree with a lot. I respect it. We have differences.” He’ll sell you a pro-Trump flag and an anti-Trump flag. In fact, Trump flags — pro or anti — are Brown’s hottest items.
“I have so many Trump flags. It’ll blow your mind and they all sell,” Brown says. “You either hate him or love him. And his flags saved the flag business.”
No pro-Trump flags are flying off the poles on this particular day. (Other poor sellers: Campaign flags for Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and George W. Bush, which are collecting dust in Brown’s North Phoenix warehouse.) This crowd — assembled for a “No Kings on Presidents’ Day” protest, carrying signs with anti-fascist slogans — is in more of a fuck-Trump mood.
Marie Siegfried, a Chandler massage therapist, approaches Brown’s stand at the "No Kings on Presidents’ Day" protest. She’s interested in the rainbow “FUCK TRUMP” flag flying above his cart. Brown rings her up — she declines the pole bundle option for $10 extra — tapping Siegfried’s card on his Square card reader. She’ll be getting a charge from Rosie in Albuquerque, he tells her. Don’t worry, he promises — that’s his wife.
Business isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. Protests — pro-immigration, pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ rights, anti-Trump, you name it — are likely to continue at the Capitol. On the other side of the ledger, the MAGA faithful show few signs of losing faith. To Brown, they’re all customers who could use a nice flag to help them speak their minds.
“If I’m not offending everybody equally, then I am not doing it right,” Brown says. “And I mean that in a loving kind of way.”
