US flags have been ordered to fly at half-staff in honour of the late President Jimmy Carter, who handed away on the age of 100 on Sunday.
This motion was taken by President Joe Biden, according to the US flag code, which mandates the flag be lowered for 30 days following the loss of life of a present or former president. Flags will stay lowered till January 28.
The choice has raised tensions with former President Donald Trump, who expressed frustration that flags can be flown at half-staff throughout his inauguration on January 20. “No one needs to see this,” Trump wrote on social media, criticising the state of affairs. “Let’s see the way it performs out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that Biden wouldn’t rethink the flag order, which was put in place to honour Carter, as reported by Related Press (AP).
Below the US flag code, flags are additionally flown at half-staff to commemorate the deaths of different notable figures, reminiscent of vice presidents, Supreme Courtroom justices, and members of Congress, though these intervals are shorter.
Whereas the flag order is often not adjustable, it may be overridden by the president as soon as they’re in workplace. Trump has exercised this energy earlier than. In 1973, President Richard Nixon raised the flags earlier than the standard 30-day mourning interval was over, to honour the return of American POWs from Vietnam, regardless of them having been lowered after President Lyndon Johnson’s loss of life.
In earlier years, Trump has additionally confronted criticism over his dealing with of flag protocol. For instance, in 2018, following the loss of life of Senator John McCain, the US flag was briefly raised to full top earlier than being lowered once more after public backlash.
The flag code stays a symbolic act of nationwide mourning, with the President, governors, and the mayor of Washington, DC holding the authority to order it lowered.
(with inputs from AP)
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