Donald Trump has shared a furious statement after being told the United States flags will still be at half-staff during his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
The flags have been lowered in honor of the late President Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100 on December 29 2024.
© Getty ImagesBut Trump, who was elected in November 2024, four years after his last term, has taken to his social media website Truth Social to complain that "nobody wants to see this".
"The Democrats are all 'giddy' about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at 'half mast' during my Inauguration,” the president-elect wrote on January, 3 2025.
"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!"
© AFP via Getty ImagesHe continued: "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. Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Following the death of a president or a former president, the US flag is flown at half-staff for the subsequent 30 days at "all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels" according to the United States Department of Veteran Affairs.
© Getty ImagesTrump's claim that this would be the first time the flag is at half-staff for an inauguration is false; in 1973, when President Richard Nixon was inaugurated, all flags on the Capitol were at half‐staff in memory of President Harry S. Truman.
Carter died on December 29, at the age of 100, as the longest-lived Commander-in-Chief in American history.
© POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesBefore, during, and after his presidency, Carter was an advocate for civil rights, and as President, he appointed more women and minorities to federal judgeships than all 38 Presidents before him combined.
His funeral procession began on January 4, 2025 and took him one last time to the place of his childhood, as the car paused outside the farm where he was raised.
© GettyIn what was a moving and personal tribute, as the car paused the National Park Service saluted the late president and rang the historic farm bell 39 times, in reference to his role as the 39th President of the United States.
The procession will continue on to Atlanta and then head north to Washington DC for a national funeral service at Washington National Cathedral.
