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Portend means something momentous or calamitous is likely to happen.

Portend is a poor choice of words for the situation.
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A guy who poses himself, stages a publicity shot for himself, 

…in front of a Confederate flag brandishing his assault rifle?

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Obviously he revels in the latent shock value of the inherent underlying emblematic symbolism.

That pretty much obviates the claim that it's not shockingly emblematic symbolism.

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I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'you can't have it both ways'.

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