The Memo: Flags will fly high after all for Trump’s inauguration
President-elect Trump has won at least one battle in advance of Monday’s inauguration ceremony.
Flags at the U.S. Capitol will be flown at full-staff when Trump is sworn in for the second time. Trump had previously been exasperated by the idea that flags would be flown at half-staff in commemoration of former President Carter, who died Dec. 29, aged 100.
But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) came to Trump’s aid, quashing any fear that his second inauguration would be marked by visuals of flags flying in mourning.
Earlier this week, Johnson wrote on social media that, come Monday, “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 noted that the flags would return to half-staff in memory of Carter the following day.
The roots of the dispute lie in the practice of lowering flags to half-staff for 30 days following the death of any former president. President Biden had followed that procedure following Carter’s death, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had noted that he did not plan to change the regular pattern to accommodate Trump.
The president-elect, however, has been complaining about the issue for weeks — and casting the proposed flying of flags at half-staff as a mark of Democratic disrespect.
In a social media post on Jan. 3, Trump complained that Democrats were “giddy” about the idea.
“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 alleged.
The incoming president added that, because of Carter’s death, “the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half-mast. Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it.”
Trump’s historical claim was incorrect.
In fact, flags had been flown at half-staff during then-President Nixon’s second inauguration in January 1973. Former President Truman, who led the nation from 1945 to 1953, died on Dec. 26, 1972. Nixon does not appear to have objected, at least in public, to that arrangement.
Johnson’s decision regarding the Capitol is only one part of the picture, however.
Republican governors have also rallied to Trump’s side, with at least eight GOP-led states announcing that flags will be fully raised for Monday’s inauguration.
Those states are Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The governors are generally casting their decision as a mark of respect for the office of the presidency, rather than as a directly pro-Trump move.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) issued a press release Tuesday in which he asserted, “The official installation of a President is a historic day in the calendar of our nation and should be recognized as such. Having the flag at full staff symbolizes the respect to that office and our nation’s newly elected leader.”
Pillen is considered a more moderate Republican than some on the MAGA wing of the party, having defeated a Trump-endorsed GOP rival, Charles Herbster, in his 2022 primary.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who challenged Trump for the Republican nomination last year, cast his decision as reflecting “an important tradition of our Republic, where Americans come together to celebrate the peaceful transition of power between presidents. It represents a season of new hope and limitless potential for America’s future.”
Democrats have mostly avoided vocal displays of opposition to the decisions to fly flags at full-staff, either at the Capitol or in GOP-led states. But the dispute is becoming a proxy for broader debates about civility.
Many Democrats look askance at the Republican governors’ insistence on the importance of respecting the peaceful transition of power. Trump, after all, refused to concede to Biden after losing the 2020 election, trafficked in rhetoric that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and declined to attend Biden’s inauguration later that month.
None of that loosened his grip on the Republican Party, and it only temporarily cooled the ardor of other GOP elected officials toward him.
Now the focus has moved on Democrats as Trump’s return to power nears. Biden met with Trump at the White House soon after the latter’s victory, as is customary — but as Trump had declined to do for him four years previously.
Biden on that occasion offered congratulations and said that he would do his best to ensure a “smooth transition” and “to make sure you’re accommodated [with] what you need.”
Biden, and former Presidents Obama and Clinton — the three living Democratic presidents — are expected to attend Trump’s inauguration. Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend, however. The former first lady also did not attend Carter’s funeral, where her husband was seated beside Trump.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the former Speaker, will also give Trump’s inauguration a miss as will progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
NBC News reported Wednesday that three former presidents — Obama, Clinton and Republican George W. Bush — would not attend the inaugural lunch that typically follows the inauguration ceremony itself.
Bush conspicuously declined to make any endorsement during last year’s presidential campaign.
The decision from the former presidents is one more piece of evidence of the depth of resistance toward Trump runs in some quarters.
But the incoming president can at least take some solace from the flag issue having been apparently resolved in his favor.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.