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War of the flags: Republican governors defy Biden, will fly flags at full-staff for Trump's inauguration

Speaker Mike Johnson and seven states joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott's initiative and announced that they will not follow the federal administration's instructions and will have the stars and stripes in full flight during the inauguration of the president-elect.

La bandera estadounidense ondea en el Capitolio de Washington, DC, el 23 de abril de 2023

American flag to fly at full-mast on Capitol Hill at Trump's inaugurationAFP

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The flags at Donald Trump's inauguration have become the latest battleground between Republicans and Democrats. Joe Biden's directive to fly flags at half-staff for a month on all federal buildings nationwide, as a gesture of mourning for Jimmy Carter's death sparked controversy among conservatives. This order, to the delight of Democratic lawmakers, would require the president-elect to take office with flags lowered. However, GOP officials have pushed back and, so far, the governments of Texas, Florida, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and Tennessee have announced that their flags will fly at full mast on Jan. 20. House Speaker Mike Johnson followed suit on Capitol Hill.

Although Biden's mandate refers to federal buildings across the country, the national flag code mandates that no other flag can fly above it, which means governors must lower state flags at the same time to comply with protocol.

Biden and Democratic leaders insisted that the period of mourning for the death of a former president was fixed and the inauguration of Donald Trump was no reason to make an exception. This provoked protests from the Republican for what he considered a disregard for himself, the presidency and even for the country to the joy of his political rivals.

Trump: Democrats' political games with flag shows they 'don't love our country'

In a Jan. 3 post on his Truth Social account, the president-elect criticized the move to use the flag to tarnish his big day. He said it demonstrates that the Democrats "in reality, they don't love our Country, they only think of themselves" and that it can be seen as a symbol of "what they've done to our once GREAT America in the last four years - It's a total mess!" Furthermore, Trump asserted that "nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it." He mentioned that it would be "the first time ever during the Inauguration of a future President" that flags are flown at half mast.

Abbott opens the floor to challenge

Abbott took note of this message. The Texas governor went against Biden's mandate by announcing on Monday, Jan. 13, that the flags in Texas would fly at full mast on the day of the inauguration. In a statement, the Lone Star State governor justified the measure by assuring that "While we honor the service of President Carter, we must also celebrate the bright future ahead."

Johnson spares Trump from photo of his inauguration with flags lowered on Capitol Hill

A day later, Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the flags on Capitol Hill will welcome the president-elect in all their splendor, avoiding the photo of an inauguration in mourning. "On January 20th, 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. The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter," he wrote in a post on X.

The rebellious eight

Initially aligning with Biden’s directive to fly flags at half-staff for 30 days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis later followed Abbott’s lead, announcing that flags in his state will fly at full-staff on Jan. 20.

These governors were then followed by their counterparts from Alabama, Kay Ivey; Idaho, Brad Little; Iowa, Kim Reynolds; Nebraska, Jim Pillen; North Dakota, Kelly Armstrong; and Tennessee, Bill Lee.

Flags have flown at full-mast at Mar-a-Lago since Carter's funeral

Donald Trump followed the national directions at his residence and headquarters until the former president's body was interred, at which point the mansion's flags were raised again at full-mast.
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