Thanks to a comment from CHAOS_ACTUAL, I couldn't resist going down a rabbit hole after some observations about the US military flags, or their absence, within the Oval Office.

When Biden (or somebody else) "redecorated' the Oval Office, various changes were widely observed. Media talked about removal of Andrew Jackson paintings and statues, and replacement with new items like Ceasar Chavez, Rosa Parks etc. The NY Times (I know, I know...) actually did a pretty interesting piece looking at the decorating of the Oval. Seems that the story is stuck behind a paywall. Perhaps somebody can archive it for me? Anyway, the headline poses quite the interesting question:

What if the paintings and sculptures could talk? What if they already do?

There was a striking line, which I failed to copy and cannot remember exactly, but it went something along the lines of "certain decorations are intentionally put in certain places to draw attention or make for a better photo" etc. In other words, it's all setting up a stage. Somebody does it by design to convey messages. Lots of talk about paintings and sculptures, but not as much about the flags.

From what I recall, some had pointed out that once Biden occupied the Oval, the military flags were removed. This observation was linked with "conspiracy theories" re: Biden doesn't control the military. Interestingly, even SNOPES (again, I know) admits that yes, the flags were removed. However, they then pivot to say "but what Trump did was not normal. Biden is restoring normal protocol." The tone is anti-Trump. The implication is that Trump's inclusion of the military flags was a bad thing.

From my additional research, I make the following observation. Military flags were only in the Oval Office during the administrations of: Eisenhower (US Army only), JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Trump. Interestingly, I cannot find any Oval Office photos of any military flags being in the Oval during JFK's administration until 1962. There's a pretty cool archived video of the US Army flag being presented to him on Dec 17th, 1962, only a couple of months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. From what I can tell, this is the first instance of the return of military flags to the Oval, which must have been removed between Ike and JFK, at least between 1960-1962. There is evidence of the US Army flag being in the Oval in 1960 while Ike was still there. But I haven't seen anything from the time JFK moved in, until the presenting of the colors in Dec 1962. Interesting context, given the recent Cuban Missile Crisis, and then later that evening JFK attends the ceremonial Christmas tree lighting and gave an excellent speech about striving for peace, within the context of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas.

The history of the Oval Office is quite fascinating. Prior to Teddy Roosevelt, POTUS' main office was what became the Lincoln Bedroom. Have you seen the movie "Lincoln"? All of those iconic meetings with his Cabinet? Ironically, it seems that those all occurred in what would eventually become the room named after him. Rewatch the movie. Room seems to be on the second floor. Teddy Roosevelt started the process of moving the Executive Office to what we now call the West Wing. The original office is now what's called the Roosevelt Room. Taft moved it to the south side and center of the West Wing. Go figure, there was a large fire in 1929 that caused extensive damage. Hoover renovated the office, but FDR would move it to its current southeast corner location.

Check out the above links to see archived photos documenting the changes. There's also a pretty cool exhibit showing models of how the interiors were decorated over the years.

The apparent absence of the military flags from the Oval Office post-Ford and until they were brought back in with Trump, seems to be explained by looking at pictures of the Roosevelt Room. There they are. Not in the Oval for Carter, Reagan, HW Bush, Clinton, W Bush, Obama or Biden. Appears that after Ford, they were moved from the Oval to the Roosevelt Room. Why? When Trump did his renovations, they were still in the Roosevelt Room, but also returned to the Oval. Why? This doesn't seem like randomness...

Norman_F_Dixon made some very interesting, though cryptic comments about the EEOB, or as Trump may have been referring to it as the "Big Beautiful white house." v8power was also a participant in that thread as we discussed the history and purpose of the EEOB. The theory seemed to be that the REAL center of executive power exists in the EEOB. So the modern "White House", contains the "Residence", the East and West Wings. The Oval is in the West Wing. As we've seen, the original "executive office" moved from the 2nd floor of the Executive Mansion ("White House") to the first floor into the added West Wing. It ended up in the Roosevelt Room, then its eventual southeast corner. Consider, is the "executive office" still in the Oval? Is "Resident" Joe Biden actually in control of the executive office? Was the "executive office" fully moved away from the "White House" to the "BIG White House" in the EEOB? It seems that Joe Biden was only an "occupant" of the EEOB as VP under Obama. He doesn't appear to currently have an office in the EEOB, although the "white house sets" have been set up in the South Court Auditorium. This all just a show while the real government, the real "executive" and/or military is actually running things out of the EEOB?

Trump established the "Office of the Former President." It would seem that he admits he's not currently POTUS. But is Biden? Norman took keen interest in this Miller/Pence's Space Force moment. Check out Pence's smile when he says "On behalf of the First Family, welcome to the White House [...] I bring greetings and congratulations from the 45th President of the United States, President Donald Trump." Where did the event take place? The South Court Auditorium of the EEOB. It's not the "White House"... so why does he call it the "White House?" Perhaps because it's the NEW, BIG BEAUTIFUL White House. Why does he welcome on behalf of the First Family? Is it because the Pence family was/is the First Family? Which makes Pence.....President? How could that be? Well, in accordance with the 25th Amendment of the United States Constitution, if the President is removed, unable to discharge, or RESIGNS, the VP becomes acting POTUS. According to federal statutory law, acting POTUS remains as such "until the expiration of the then current Presidential term." However, if there is a "failure of both the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect to qualify," then the VP, as acting POTUS "shall act only until a President or Vice President qualifies." Same case if neither the President-elect nor the VP-elect can assume the function due to "inability."

Theory: Trump resigned prior to January 6th. Pence becomes POTUS. There is now a vacancy for VP. Remember Nixon? Did Pence nominate any replacement? Did Congress approve? Does that matter? If there's no VP, then how could the votes of the Electors be counted on Jan 6th without the VP? Whatever happened with Pence on the Jan 6th, that was just a show. He's POTUS, not VP. There is no VP. There is no vote count or certification. No President-elect or VP-elect is certified. Nobody has qualified. And thus, Pence remains acting POTUS until there is a qualified POTUS-elect and VP-elect. When does that occur? After the fraudulent election dispute is truly resolved. That has yet to happen. Thus, Pence remains acting POTUS until it does. How could it be resolved? I've argued this whole time, that it's up to SCOTUS. This is a judicial matter. Always has been. There's plenty of precedent where SCOTUS decided on election disputes. They should. The legal challenge is that certain states violated the law and the appointment of their Electors was invalid. Thus, even if SCOTUS does not rule there's enough evidence to declare Trump-Pence the rightful winners in said state elections, all they have to do is nullify the states in question. Guess what? Nobody has the requirement 270. And boom, contingent election goes to Congress, per the process outlined by the Constitution. The vote would be by state. Even though the Republicans currently control the majority of states in each house, perhaps it'd be better to increase that advantage with a red wave in this year's midterms? How fitting then, might it be, for a contingent presidential election, a vote by Congress, to occur on Jan 6th, 2023, when it makes the true winner of 2020, DJT, the 47th POTUS (Pence would after all, be the 46th).

Back to the issue of military flags. Remember this moment? Perhaps the military flags being or not being in the Oval was some kind of signal as to who was in control of whom? Perhaps when the flags were in the Oval, that signaled that the Military was in control of the president, or rather, when the flags were present, the President was in control of the military? Or perhaps it was an indicator that the Military and the President were simply in sync? Consider this question within the context of when flags were and weren't present.

Open to thoughts and criticisms.