A silly non-controversy concealed the latest Democrat effort to criminalize the President. Yesterday, the Tallahassee Democrat ran a snarky story headlined, “DeSantis orders flags at full-staff in Florida for Trump’s inauguration day.”
In doing so, Florida joined Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Tennessee, and Nebraska, all defying Joe Biden’s executive order requiring flags to remain lowered through the Inauguration in honor of President Carter’s death.
Biden’s executive order was unnecessary, a childish dig at Trump. The federal Flag Code, 4 USC § 7(m), already requires the American Flag to be flown at half-staff for 30 days following a former President’s death. Since former President Carter croaked on December 29th, flags should be cranked-down until January 28th, which unfortunately throws a depressing wet blanket over all of Inauguration week.
But on the other hand, the immediately preceding section of the Flag Code, 4 U.S.C. § 6(d), titled ‘Time and occasions for display,’ provides that “The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on … Inauguration Day, January 20.” Sane legal readers interpret the word “displayed” to mean “at full staff.” So, in highly unusual circumstances like this one, § 6 creates potential tension with § 7.
Lawmakers never considered this type of flaggy conflict arising between living and dead presidents. I mean, what are the odds?
In any case, the statute was meant to provide a reliable list of common flag standards, not create a legal quagmire. The U.S. Flag Code is not enforceable. It has no penalties for violations, neither civil nor criminal (as flag-burning protestors know well). Plus, the Code expressly allows a sitting President to modify any of the flag rules, 4 U.S.C. § 10, so Trump could immediately order the flags raised right after being sworn in.
Similarly, under § 10, Biden could easily have modified the rules in his executive order to allow full-height flags on Monday, but he didn’t — a deliberate oversight. Since there’s already a flag law, Biden’s executive order lowering the flag was wholly redundant — he did it intentionally, just to show he could have modified the rule but didn’t.
Biden was tilting the flagpole toward dishonoring the incoming President.
But even Biden’s symbolic middle finger isn’t enough for partisan Democrats, who would surely complain if they were hung with a new rope. Probably too scratchy or something.
Yesterday’s Miami Herald headline:
(What do I always say about headlines that ask questions? They never answer them.) They are making a big deal about this because Democrats are trying to gin up a stupid narrative that, true to form, Trump’s term began with a crime. But it isn’t going anywhere because, as always, it isn’t illegal, and Trump did nothing anyway.
Yesterday, it was Florida’s great Governor Ron DeSantis who joined several other Southern State governors and ordered state officials to raise the flag everywhere in Florida to its full, glorious height on Monday, to honor President Trump. Flags will return to half-staff on Tuesday for President Carter.
DeSantis wrote, “In light of the importance of this day, and on this patriotic occasion, I hereby order all flags to be raised to full-staff at the Florida Capitol and across all state buildings, installations, and grounds for the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”
And as for the Capitol grounds, where President Trump will take the oath, House Speaker Johnson suspended Carter’s 30-day mourning period to allow flags at the U.S. Capitol to fly at full staff for Trump’s inauguration next week. Everywhere else in DC they’ll remain at half-mast.
I hope that President Trump orders them right back up.
