You are 100% correct. As I posted elsewhere:
Trump brought flag burning up for two reasons. First, he wanted the MSM to react hysterically to his comments.
They did not disappoint.
Second, he wanted to rub their noses in their bias. He did this by mentioning the exact same penalty Hillary had advocated in her 2005 anti flag burning bill.
This also worked. Once the initial frenzy died down, the press was confronted by their epic double standard. They lost their minds over a Trump tweet, yet did not even once, during the entire campaign, ever mention the actual bill Hillary sponsored as a US senator.
As usual, Trump won the round decisively. The media ended up looking stupid and corruptfor the whole world to see.