American flags are being raised without being at half-mast for Donald Trump’s inauguration scheduled for Monday, despite the death of former President Jimmy Carter.
American flags will be raised high at the Capitol during the inauguration ceremony of new President Donald Trump, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, announced this Tuesday, January 14, defying a decree from Joe Biden to honor the memory of former head of state Jimmy Carter.
The decree provided that flags flying on federal buildings would be flown at half-mast for 30 days, until the beginning of February, in tribute to the 39th President of the United States, who died on December 29.
The flags were lowered to half-mast the next day
The period therefore included, theoretically, January 20, the date of Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony. The latter had criticized Joe Biden’s decision, accusing the Democrats of having let their heads “turn” after the death of Jimmy Carter.
In a statement, Republican Mike Johnson explained that the decision to raise the American flags flying on the Congress building to the usual height was intended to “salute the unity of our country around the inauguration” of Donald Trump.
“The flags will be lowered to half-mast the next day to continue to honor President Jimmy Carter,” he said.
In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower issued an executive order ordering that flags be flown at half-mast for 30 days each time a sitting head of state or former president died.
Even if the text used by Joe Biden theoretically only applies to federal buildings, most American states have decided to half-mast the flags on their own public buildings.
On Monday, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott broke with that practice by ordering that flags be flown high on Donald Trump’s inauguration day.
“While paying tribute to a former head of state, we must also celebrate the arrival of a new president and the bright future that lies ahead for the United States,” the governor commented in a press release.
