US flags will be at half-staff for the next 30 days to honor former President Jimmy Carter, including during Donald Trump’s inauguration, a coincidence liberals are celebrating as a shot at the president-elect.
Carter died Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga., and under American flag code, the death of a sitting or former president is marked by flying the Stars and Stripes at half-staff on “all federal buildings, grounds and naval vessels” nationwide.
Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president Jan. 20, which is within the window of the prescribed 30-day national mourning period. It will be the first time American flags have flown at half-staff during a presidential inauguration.
Since flag code is not federal law, Trump could, in theory, order flags to be raised for his inauguration. A spokesperson for the president-elect did not respond to a Post email Monday inquiring whether there was any discussion within the Trump camp of ordering flags raised for the occasion.
Then-President Richard Nixon ordered flags lowered to honor predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson, who passed away a few days after Nixon’s second inauguration in 1973. But Nixon had them temporarily raised to full-staff Feb. 13 of that year to honor the first returning Vietnam prisoners of war.
Left-wingers on X are now smugly noting the anticipated lowered flags for Trump’s inauguration day, savoring the unintended symbolism and imagining Trump — who offered heartfelt condolences after the passing of Carter — raging over the optics.
Paid Democratic Party shill “BrooklynDadDefiant” — whose real name is Majid Padellan — wrote Monday, “glad to know that flags must now be flown at half staff during Felon 47’s unholy inauguration. Carter is a hero, even on his way out.”
Another X user called the flags being flown at half-staff during the inauguration “some kind of prophetic justice.”
A third commenter said it was “a huge middle finger to Trump” and “one last F you” from Carter, who famously said he wanted to live long enough to vote for Trump’s foe, Veep Kamala Harris.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, will receive a full state funeral in Washington, DC, on Jan. 9 before he is laid to rest in Plains beside his late wife Rosalynn.
He will lie in state in the Capitol rotunda from Jan. 7-9, a set-up that will be open during designated times for members of the public to pay their respects, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office announced Monday evening.