2.8 TFT rewriting characters "flashes"?

Either paste a snippet from a successful build
Or the complete "buildable" sketch.

I am sceptical that this line could compile:

    tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_WHITE),(ILI9341_WHITE);

But the simple answer to all your troubles is to use the full-fat method with different foreground and background colours:

    tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_WHITE, ILI9341_BLACK);    //overwrite print

If you use the same foreground and background colour it behaves like the simple

    tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_WHITE);    //transparent print

Yes, you can rub out a previous letter by printing it transparently in the background colour. But it is faster to draw in overwrite mode. You will not notice any flashes.

David.