Donald Trump Gets The Last Laugh On Jimmy Carter With Historic Flag Decision

Donald Trump has had a lot to say about Jimmy Carter over the years (spoiler, not much of it is very nice). And for his part, Carter wasn't impressed by Trump's presidency either; one of Carter's last wishes was to live long enough to cast his vote against Trump in the 2024 election. After Carter died at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024, it seemed like he'd had the final word against Trump when President Joe Biden ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff in Carter's honor. They were to remain there for 30 days, which would include Trump's inauguration. This is following the policy of the U.S. Flag Code, and it's been in place since 1954.

However, on January 14, 2025, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson confirmed that the U.S. Capitol flags will be returned to their full-staff position on January 20 for the inauguration, before being lowered again the next day and through the end of the 30 day period.

Trump's Truth Social post on January 3 (less than a week after Carter's death and before his funeral) was a complaint about how the flag would be lowered on his inauguration day, and he wrote, falsely, that this had never happened before. The last time the death of a former president overlapped with the inauguration was in 1973, and they didn't take this same action. Richard Nixon kept the flags at half-staff for his second inauguration after the death of Harry Truman in December 1972. 

People certainly noticed Speaker Mike Johson's post about raising the flags for Donald Trump's inauguration even though the 30 days honoring Jimmy Carter wouldn't have finished. Some were happy with the decision, but there were plenty who were angry. One person replied to Johnson on X (formerly known as Twitter): "This is a great disservice to President Carter. Have you no shame Mr. Speaker?"

For a number of critics, Johnson's decision seemed to be clearly about keeping Trump happy rather than "to celebrate our country coming together," which is how Johnson put it in his post on X. One person said, "Just keep it at half-staff the whole time. You don't have to appease his ego dude." Another wrote, "People will call Trump strong for getting his way, but demanding they make this change just shows how weak and fragile he is. A strong man would have happily honored a former President."

Trump hasn't yet responded to Mike Johnson's statement. But our guess is that he's pleased about it.

Donald Trump has already flouted flag protocol in honor of former President Jimmy Carter, with flags spotted flying at full-staff at Mar-a-Lago on January 13. They were lowered again the next day, so perhaps it was just a slip up? It's hard to tell. Admittedly, Biden's proclamation in regards to flags being lowered for Carter's death is specific to public places, as was the declaration that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued. Mar-a-Lago is a private club. Though for some people, that distinction isn't really all that important. One wrote about the Mar-a-Lago flag situation on X, saying, "it's not illegal for him to do this, but it still doesn't make it any less a scummy move."

Johnson isn't alone in the unprecedented decision to pause the lowering of the flags for a former president. On January 13, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a similar order for state buildings in Texas, as did Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. It's possible that other states will follow suit.