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A Utah artist is opening up on why he joined the national anthem protest debate by painting President Donald Trump on a football field cleaning the mud off of a tattered and trampled American flag.

Jon McNaughton wrote on his website that he created the piece -- titled "Respect the Flag" -- because he respects the president for standing up to athletes who refused to stand for the anthem.

The “left” loves art, and especially taxpayer funded art that is “provocative”. Let’s get their reaction to this. https://t.co/WAVFB1Uqbx. — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) February 27, 2018

On "Fox & Friends" on Thursday, McNaughton said he -- like millions of other Americans -- was offended by NFL players and other athletes disrespecting what the flag represents: those who have sacrificed their lives for our nation.

"I wanted to paint an image that would reflect what happened there and also the way President Trump stood up for American values when he interjected himself into this," McNaughton said.

He said the reaction on the left has been similar to many of his other patriotic and religious-themed paintings.

"They can't believe an artist would take the time to paint something like this," McNaughton said. "But then everybody else sees the painting and they identify with it, and it takes off."

Watch more above, and let us know what you think in the comments.

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