Video footage of a Democrat politician from Connecticut taking a knee during the Pledge of Allegiance has triggered outrage from her constituents and fellow officials.

Melissa Schlag, a selectwoman from the small town of Haddam, said she was protesting the Trump administration when she knelt during the pledge at the opening of a Board of Selectmen meeting earlier this month.

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(Pledge of Allegiance starts at :38 mark)

“I felt nervous when I did it but I also felt powerful,’’ said Schlag, who told local media she was reacting to President Trump’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If I don’t speak up, those who can’t won’t be heard.”

“The Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t have anything to do with the flag, in my opinion,” Schlag asserts. “I believe in our country. I love our flag and the United States of America.”

Schlag issued a manifesto on social media explaining the reasoning behind her actions.

Interestingly, this is not Schlag’s first controversy involving a perceived disrespect for the American flag, as she once had it removed from her office to make way for a bookshelf.

Schlag’s demonstration has not been received well, with even former supporters voicing their disapproval and detractors calling for her resignation.

“Disgusting, if you ask me,’’ said Ken Pellegrini, a local welder. “That’s our flag. It’s disrespecting our whole country and that’s not okay.”

“I used to like her but I would never vote for her again. She’s done as far as I’m concerned.”

Fox61 reports that phone lines at Town Hall are jammed and inboxes are filled with complaints from furious locals.

Tim Herbst, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut, blasted Schlag, calling her behavior emblematic of the radical, anti-American direction of the Democrat party.

“She needs to resign immediately,” Herbst said during an interview on Fox and Friends. “One of the things the flag stands for – it stands for our freedom, it stands for our democracy. It stands for the fundamental ideal that we can have differences of opinion, but we all stand in respect of our flag because many people, including my 93-year-old grandfather who’s a veteran, fought in defense of the very liberty that the flag resembles.”

“When Barack Obama was president, I didn’t vote for him. I wasn’t happy about it, but I respected the office of president, and I think people need to respect the office of president.”

Dan Lyman: Follow @CitizenAnalyst