President-elect Donald Trump will take office on Monday, and will do so with flags at full-staff above the United States Capitol.
Trump will be sworn in during a ceremony Monday, but for a time it appeared that flags would be at half-staff for the occasion.
Instead, House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered flags at the Capitol to fly at full-staff for Inauguration Day, and governors in more than half of the 50 states have issued similar orders.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why are flags at half-staff?
Flags have been at half-staff across the U.S. since late December when former President Jimmy Carter died at the age of 100. According to U.S. flag code, flags are ordered to fly at half-staff for 30 days after the death of a president, which would have left them lowered during Trump’s inauguration.
With the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump ahead on Monday, NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern takes a look back at past inaugurations.
What was Trump’s reaction to the decision to lower flags?
The president-elect criticized that decision to keep flags lowered on his Truth Social platform, arguing that “nobody wants to see” the flags lowered on the day he was inaugurated. He also accused Democrats of being “giddy” at the news.
“The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my Inauguration,” he said on Truth Social. “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.”
What has happened since?
After Trump’s remarks, governors slowly began to order flags to fly at full-staff for Inauguration Day, before lowering them back to half-staff for the remainder of the month.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was the first to issue the order, and was followed by other governors including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, in one of his first official acts, ordered flags to fly at full-staff for the inauguration.
Most governors have said the decision to raise flags was meant to honor the “peaceful transition of power” between the administrations of President Joe Biden and Trump, and that they would return the flags to half-staff to continue honoring Carter’s legacy and life.
How many states will have flags at full-staff?
According to NBC-affiliate KARE in Minneapolis, a total of 28 states are expected to have their flags at full-staff for the inauguration. While they are predominantly controlled by Republicans, several states with Democrats in the governor’s mansions have issued similar orders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Have flags been at half-staff for Inauguration Day before?
According to NPR, flags were flown at half-staff during the inauguration of President Richard Nixon in 1973, which followed the death of former President Harry Truman in Dec. 1972.
