Sports fans have likely noticed at sporting events across the country, including the College Football Playoff games over the weekend, the American flag has been flown at half-mast to memorialize United States President Jimmy Carter, who passed away earlier this week at 100 years old.
According to tradition, the flag is set to stay at half-mast for 30 days following his death, presenting quite a problem for United States President Donald Trump.
Since Jimmy Carter passed away on Dec. 29, the flag will still be at half-mast until Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump has made it clear that he is not happy about this.
On Truth Social this week, Donald Trump shared a strongly worded post condemning the decision to keep the flag at half-mast in memory of Carter.
Trump went as far as to say “Nobody wants to see” the flag at half-mast in honor of the late president.
“The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my Inauguration,” Trump wrote. “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. Look at what they’ve done to our once GREAT America over the past four years – It’s a total mess!”
“In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast,” he continued. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Clearly, Trump would not be happy to have the flags at half-mast during his inauguration, but unfortunately for him, it sounds like that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
This week, the White House confirmed that the flags will indeed remain half-mast for Trump’s inauguration.
When asked whether the White House would reconsider the traditional 30-day half-mast period for Carter, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered a succinct response: “No.”
Clearly, Trump is not going to get what he wants.
