(The Hill) – GOP governors of at least eight states ordered flags to be flown at full-staff on Inauguration Day, bucking tradition by raising flags before the end of a customary 30-day mourning period following the death of former President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced this week that flags at state buildings, which were initially lowered to half-staff following Carter’s death at 100, would fly at their full height on Jan. 20.
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Flags will be lowered again the following day to continue honoring Carter, five of the governors said. Little and Pillen said in their announcements that flags would be lowered at sunset on Inauguration Day, and Abbott did not indicate whether flags would be lowered back to half-staff after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.
President Biden, who delivered an eulogy at Carter’s funeral on Jan. 9, ordered flags across the nation to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Jan. 28, in accordance with an Eisenhower-era proclamation.
The 30-day mourning period, reserved for the death of a sitting or former president, would have overlapped with the inauguration of President-elect Trump, who claimed Democrats were “giddy” that flags would not be raised to their full height when he takes his oath of office next week.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it.”
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American flags at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida were raised from half-staff on Monday, The Associated Press reported.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that flags would fly at full-staff at the Capitol on the day of Trump’s inauguration and lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring Carter.
“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,” Johnson said in a statement.
