Donald Trump has said the US flag should not be lowered to half-mast on Inauguration Day to mourn the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

Joe Biden ordered flags to be lowered for 30 days from the day of Mr Carter’s death at the age of 100 on December 29, as is customary when a US president dies.

However, the timing means flags will still be at half-staff on January 20, Mr Trump’s inauguration day.

Mr Trump expressed outrage at the decision, accusing his political rivals of being “upset” about flags being lowered at his swearing-in, adding: “No American can be happy about that.”

Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Democrats are all ‘excited’ that our magnificent American flag may fly at ‘half-mast’ during my inauguration.”

“They think it’s so great and they’re so happy about it because in reality they don’t love our country, they only think about themselves,” he added.

Mr Trump, who said he would attend Mr Carter’s memorial service in Washington on January 9, said: “Be at half-mast for the first time at the inauguration of a future president.”

“No one wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it turns out.”

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration had no plans to reconsider the decision.

The U.S. Flag Code sets parameters for lowering the U.S. flag to half-staff, including a 30-day deadline for current or former presidents to cover flags at federal buildings and their grounds, as well as at U.S. embassies and other facilities abroad. including military installations and ships.

The code is not binding, so once Mr Trump becomes president he could override the decision, but cannot do so until he takes office.

Due to the U.S. Flag Code, which states that no flag may fly higher than the American flag on the same pole or nearby, state flags are also lowered during these periods.

When Richard Nixon was sworn in for his second term in January 1973, the flags were at half-staff. He had ordered it lowered after the death of former President Harry S. Truman.

Nixon also chose to raise flags before the 30-day mark, which he had lowered in mourning after the death of former President Lyndon Johnson, to honor the first U.S. prisoners of war released from Vietnam in 1973. The break lasted only one day. and the flags were returned to half-mast for eight days thereafter.

The excitement over the flag comes as six days of Mr. Carter’s funeral began in Georgia, where the former president died.

The early events reflect Mr. Carter’s rise up the political ladder, from the tiny town of Plains, Georgia, to decades on the global stage as a humanitarian and advocate for democracy.

The proceedings began with the Carter family’s arrival at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus.

Former Secret Service agents protecting Mr. Carter served as pallbearers and walked alongside the hearse as it left campus on the way to Plains.

Mr. Carter lived more than 80 of his 100 years in and around the city, which still has fewer than 700 people.

The motorcade is scheduled to move through the area, past the childhood home of the late first lady Rosalynn Smith Carter, who died in November 2023 at age 96, and the site where the couple ran the family peanut warehouse.

The route also included the old train depot that served as Mr. Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign headquarters and the gas station once operated by his younger brother Billy.

The motorcade will then drive past the Methodist church where the Carters were married in 1946 and the house where they lived and died. The former president is buried there along with his wife.

The Carters built the one-story house, now surrounded by Secret Service fences, before his first Senate campaign in 1962 and lived there throughout their lives, with the exception of four years in the governor’s mansion and four more years in the White House.

The motorcade is scheduled to arrive Saturday afternoon at the Carter Presidential Center, where a private service was scheduled to take place. The campus is home to Mr. Carter’s Presidential Library and the Carter Center, founded by the former couple in 1982.

From 7pm local time last night (11pm GMT) until 6am on Monday, Mr Carter will lie in repose for the public to pay their respects.

Five former and sitting presidents are expected to attend Mr. Carter’s state funeral on January 9.

Mr Biden previously said Mr Carter had asked him to give the eulogy at his funeral. First Lady Jill Biden is expected to attend.

In addition to Mr Trump and his wife Melania, Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and George W and Laura Bush are believed to be in attendance to pay their respects to the longest-living president in US history.

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