When President-elect Trump is sworn in next week, American flags at federal buildings across the country will likely be flown at half-staff due to an order from President Biden to honor the late President Carter. However, in Texas, they will be flown at full-staff. 

In a statement Monday, Governor Abbott ordered all flags to be raised to full-staff at the Texas Capitol and state buildings on January 20 “in honor of inauguration day.

“Texas continues to mourn with our fellow Americans across the country the passing of former President Jimmy Carter,” Mr. Abbott said. “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.”

He said, “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.”

Mr. Biden ordered that American flags be flown at half-staff, a sign of a state of mourning, for 30 days in honor of President Carter, who died on December 29. President Eisenhower started the tradition in 1954 by issuing a proclamation that American flags should be flown at half-staff for 30 days when a president or former president dies. 

That time frame means that flags at federal buildings will be flown at half-staff when Trump is sworn in on January 20.

The president-elect has criticized the decision. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote, “The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my Inauguration. 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.

“In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast. Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he said. 

The term “half-mast” only refers to flags being flown on ships or naval stations, and half-staff is the term used for flags being flown on a building or flag pole. 

While Trump said his inauguration would be the first time the American flag is flown at half-staff when a president is sworn in, it happened most recently in 1973. President Nixon ordered the flag to be flown at half-staff after President Truman’s death, and the 30-day period overlapped with his second inauguration. 

Mr. Biden could order flags to be flown at full-staff for Trump’s inauguration if he chose to. Yet the chances of that happening seem slim — the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters earlier this month that Mr. Biden would not reconsider his order for the flags to be flown at half-staff despite Trump’s criticism. 

Texas is not the only location where the flag will be flown at half-staff ahead of schedule. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence resumed flying the flag at full-staff after Carter’s burial.