President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for a perfect inauguration are being foiled by former President Jimmy Carter, who died last week at the age of 100.
As is standard practice in memorializing dead former presidents, American flags displayed at federal buildings, grounds, and on naval vessels will be flown at half mast for a 30-day period of national mourning. While 30 days may seem like a long time, it’s a decades-long tradition reserved for sitting and former presidents – one that Trump will theoretically be granted upon his passing. But for the president-elect, the notion that the death of a predecessor could interfere with the aesthetics of his return to power is unconscionable.
“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,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The president-elect also criticized Democrats for feeling “giddy” over the prospect of the capital’s flags being at half mast during his inaugural ceremonies. “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,” he added.
When asked if the White House would consider breaking with mourning protocol and raising D.C.’s flags to their full height on Inauguration Day, White House Press Secretary Karinne Jean-Pierre responded with an emphatic: “No.”
It’s not the first time Trump has fixated on the spectacle of his political events – particularly his inauguration. In 2017, the president-elect falsely raved for weeks that the crowd of attendees that witnessed his swearing in was the largest in American history, and that the media had lied about the attendance of the event out of spite.
“It looked like a million and a half people,” Trump said of the event. In reality, the attendance was much lower, with estimates ranging from 300,000 to 600,000 people. By contrast, former President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration drew a record-breaking crowd of 1.8 million.
There’s no pleasing the guy. But former President Carter – who once called Trump a “disaster” – managed to get under his skin one last time.
Carter’s funeral will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington on Thursday. Trump is expected to attend.
