Youngkin Latest GOP Governor to Order Flags at Full-Staff for Inauguration
After the death of former President Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff for the 30-day mourning period of a former president.
Trump was fuming, believing that all flags should be flown at full-staff during his inauguration, even having the flags at Mar-a-Lago raised only days after Carter died, even though Governor Ron DeSantis had ordered flags at half-staff for the 30 days.
Trump is Upset
When Trump realized flags would be down at half-staff during his inauguration, he went ballistic.
Trump took to Truth Social, posting, "Nobody wants to see this.” He added, “No American can be happy about it. Let's see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Trump made this out to be about unity and that something like this had never been done before, but we was wrong on both accounts. Flags were at half-staff during the Nixon inauguration. Secondly, this was all about Trump’s ego, not “unity,” as he claimed.
The wheels were set in motion, however, and Republicans answered the call.
Johnson Gives the Order
The first person to actually order flags to be flown at full-staff on January 20 was Texas Governor Greg Abbott. At the time, I questioned the order because I felt that the lead order needed to come from a Democrat to prevent this being an attack point by Democrats against Trump and Republicans.
To that point, no Dem had stepped up, which led to Speaker Johnson (R-LA) ordering Capitol flags to be raised for the inauguration, then lowered again to fulfill the 30-day mourning period.
He stated, "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."
After that, a slew of red state governors fell in line, all ordering the flags to be raised on January 20, then lowered again on the 21st.
VA, CA, CO, and WA All Raise Flags
After Johnson made his announcement, I was stunned to see California Governor Gavin Newsom give the order to raise the flags for inauguration day. To be honest, though, I was glad he did, as that killed the narrative I was expecting to come from Democrats.
Next, Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, ordered the flags raised, stating, “In accordance with the authority vested in me as Governor and in accordance with federal law 4 U.S.C. § 6(d), I hereby order that the flags of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Virginia are to be flown at full-staff on all state and local buildings and grounds in the Commonwealth in recognition of the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States.” Like the other orders, they would be lowered again on January 21.
Then, Washington and Colorado, two more states with Democrat governors, ordered their flags to be raised for the inauguration and then lowered the next day.
I was pretty open about the fact I did not support the move unless we could get Democrats on board, and even though it was not unanimous, with at least three Democrat governors changing their minds before the inauguration, I 100% support the move to have the flags raised now. Again, this was about avoiding an attack by Democrats, nothing more. I would have preferred for someone like Fetterman to have suggested it, but having them join the party late is better than never.
