Former President Jimmy Carter died on Dec. 29, 2024. Protocol and tradition dictate that U.S. flags fly at half-staff for 30 days to honor the former president.
Joe Biden issued a proclamation to that effect. The Associated Press reports that "According to the U.S. General Services Administration [GSA], the president, a governor, and the mayor of the District of Columbia can order U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff." But there's nothing in the proclamation that carries the force of law.
Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. Naturally, he does not see his inauguration as an occasion for mourning. On Jan. 3, Trump posted about the proclamation on Truth Social. “Nobody wants to see this,” he wrote, referring to the flag flying at half-staff. He added that “no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson took the unusual step of declaring that the flag would fly at full-staff at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20 and would be lowered back to half-staff the next day.
On January 20th, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 14, 2025
The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter.
According to the U.S. Flag Code, Johnson does not have the authority to rescind Biden's proclamation. But since there's no enforcement mechanism behind the GSA rule that the president, a governor, and the mayor of D.C. can order U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff, there's nothing to stop him from rescinding it.
Trump has been flying the flag at Mar-a-Largo at full staff since after Carter's funeral, in violation of the flag code. The former president did, however, travel to the Capitol to pay his respects when Carter was lying in state, and he attended his funeral.
It should be noted that there is precedent for breaking the 30 days of mourning rule.
U.S. flag code dictates that flags remain lowered for the 30-day period from the death of a former president. But that code isn’t mandatory, so once he becomes president, Trump could technically override it.
That’s what happened in February 1973, when then-President Richard Nixon opted to raise flags — which he had ordered lowered in mourning following the death of former President Lyndon Johnson — before the 30-day mark to honor the first American prisoners of war released from Vietnam. The hiatus only lasted a day, and flags went back to half-staff thereafter for eight days.
Flags had also been at half-staff when Nixon was sworn in for his second term in January 1973, due to Nixon having ordered them lowered after the death of former President Harry S. Truman.
Trump's reasoning behind his desire for the flag to fly at full-staff is that the Democrats were playing politics with the solemnity of the occasion.
"The Democrats are all 'giddy' about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at 'half mast' during my Inauguration," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "They think it's so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don't love our Country, they only think about themselves."
There was gloating on social media that Carter's death would overshadow Trump's inauguration.
Outspoken MAGA critics and Democrat voters have quipped that the half mast flags during such a pivotal moment are Carter's parting gift to Trump after their longstanding feud.
'I’m so sad for this great man’s passing but this is going to p**s off the orange clown so much and I’ve convinced myself this was Jimmy’s plan the whole time,' one person wrote.
Another added: 'Can't help but smile knowing flags will be at half mast during Trump's Inauguration to honor Jimmy Carter, one of the most decent humans to walk the earth and the very opposite of who's to come.'
'His parting gift: US flags will be at half mast on all federal buildings on Trump’s Inauguration Day.'
The occasion of the inauguration of a president should be a regular exception to the rule on flags being lowered to half-staff. One day flying at full staff is not going to besmirch the memory of a former president.
Related: Four Days to Go (But Who’s Counting?)
It's just as important to honor a living president as it is to show respect for a dead one.
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