A Republican official in Pennsylvania says that he doesn’t regret hanging at least three American flags upside down to protest President Barack Obama’s second inauguration because “our nation is in a horrible place.”

WPXI’s Julie Fine took a news crew to party headquarters in McKeesport to speak to Mon Valley Republican Party Chair Brent Kovac after the station began receiving complaints that the official signal of distress was over the line on a day that most Americans put partisanship aside.

“Sometimes people need a strong statement,” Kovac explained to Fine. “The nation is in distress, and this isn’t the first time this has been done, whether you agree with the sentiment or not.”