Texas governor orders state's flags raised to full-staff for Trump's inauguration

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday ordered the state's flags be raised to full-staff on Inauguration Day, as President-elect Trump enters his second term in the White House.

The move disrupts the 30-day period of half-staff mourning issued by President Biden to honor the late President Carter. Biden ordered flags nationally to half-staff through sunset on Jan. 28. Abbott's order would apply to all flags at the Texas Capitol and at state buildings on Jan. 20.

“Texas continues to mourn with our fellow Americans across the country over the passing of former President Jimmy Carter,” Abbott said in a statement. “President Carter’s steadfast leadership left a lasting legacy that will be felt for generations to come, which together as a nation we honor by displaying flags at half-staff for 30 days.”

“On January 20, our great nation will celebrate our democratic tradition of transferring power to a new President by inaugurating the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” he continued. “As we unite our country and usher in this new era of leadership, I ordered all flags to be raised to full-staff at the Texas Capitol and all state buildings for the inauguration of President Trump.”

“While we honor the service of a former President, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America,” Abbott said.

Carter, the 39th U.S. president, died Dec. 29 at the age of 100, the longest-lived president in the nation’s history. Flags were lowered to half-staff to pay tribute to him, and the White House announced they would remain that way for 30 days.

Trump, soon after Carter’s death, blasted Democrats as “giddy” that flags would be set to half-staff during the time of his inauguration, which falls in the 30-day period.

“The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my Inauguration,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 3. “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.”

“Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out,” Trump said, referring to the flags being lowered during his inauguration.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump team for comment.

In a post after Carter’s death, Trump said he “strongly disagreed” with Carter “philosophically and politically,” but recognized that the former president “truly loved and respected our Country and all it stands for.”

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