Former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, appears to have left a hard-to-escape reminder of his legacy for Donald Trump to see as the president-elect takes the oath of office next month.
Following Carter’s death, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation that called for the U.S. flag to be displayed at half-staff at the White House, on public buildings and grounds, at military posts as well as naval stations and vessels “for a period of 30 days from the day of his death.”
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This is in line with the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, which states that the flag should be displayed for such a period after a former president’s death at “all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels” throughout the country and its territories.
The flags are set to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Jan. 28 — more than a week after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, which happens to fall on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The rare, likely scenario became the talk of social media users who called it Carter’s “one last gift” for Trump, who offered a tribute to the former president in a social media post on Sunday.
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Carter was notably a critic of the president-elect and once described him as “a disaster.”
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He did get the last laugh….
— Cork Off! Nalini4America (@CorkYou) December 29, 2024
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Flag protocol requires all flags to be flown at half-mast for 30 days after the passing of a president. This means flags will be at half-mast for Trump’s inauguration.
Thank you for your final act of service, President Carter.— 🌊Rhonda – Line drawn in the sand (@SilverARTicfox) December 30, 2024
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Leave it to Jimmy to have our flag flying at half-mast on inauguration day to signify the death of democracy.
— Shtook (@shtooky) December 29, 2024
This isn’t the first time that a presidential inauguration occurred as flags flew at half-staff to honor a former president.
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Then-President Richard Nixon — after the death of Harry S. Truman on Dec. 26, 1972 — took the oath of office for a second term on Jan. 20, 1973 as the D.C. sky was “heavy with gray clouds” while flags flew at half-staff and the sounds of a protest could be heard faintly in the distance, Time magazine reported.
Nixon’s predecessor, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, would go on to die of a heart attack just two days later, which caused Nixon to call for flags to fly at half-staff for another 30 days.
