SE Cupp is a CNN political commentator and the host of "SE Cupp Unfiltered." The views expressed in this commentary are solely hers. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) It would have been a jarring image no matter the president.

SE Cupp

We're used to seeing the American flag handled in a number of ways. It can be hoisted, saluted, folded in honor of the fallen, even burned in protest.

But it's not every day you see the leader of the free world hug the flag in front of a crowd of adoring followers.

Enter President Donald Trump on Saturday at the annual gathering of conservatives known as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He grabbed an unassuming Old Glory by its stand like a prom date, and gave it a brief, slightly terrifying, slow-dance to "Proud to be an American."

In that moment, in a way, the flag was so many of us -- Americans recoiling at the smothering and unwanted advances of an unstable lech. On behalf of the flag, I wanted to shout: "I beg your pardon, sir! Get your hands off of me!"

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