America Will Officially Be in Mourning on Trump’s Inauguration Day

American flags will be flying at half-mast for Trump’s January 20 inauguration after the death of former President Jimmy Carter on Sunday at age 100.

Federal guidelines state that the flag must be “half-staff for 30 days at all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States and its territories and possessions after the death of the president or a former president.”

President-elect Trump has yet to mention the flags, and offered condolences to the Carter family.

“I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday that angered some of the MAGA faithful. “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Given Trump’s general obsession with appearances, such as the crowd size at his first inauguration, he may well feel emasculated by a half-mast American flag at his second one.

Nearly half of Republicans support Donald Trump’s plan to use the U.S. military to forcibly round up undocumented immigrants into camps and deport them en masse.

A postelection survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI, found that 46 percent of Republicans supported using the military to enact sweeping deportation raids and widespread internment.

Meanwhile, only 9 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of independents endorsed the idea. Twenty-six percent of all voters surveyed endorsed the plan.

PRRI surveyed 5,772 U.S. adults between November 8 and December 2.

Robert P. Jones, PRRI’s president and founder, told Axios on Monday that there was good news and bad news.

“I guess the good news is that three-quarters of the country rejects this idea that we should be putting immigrants in the country illegally into internment camps guarded by the military,” Jones said. The bad news is that support for Trump’s extreme plot is apparently supported by nearly half the members of a mainstream political party.

Trump has claimed he will use the military to carry out mass deportations and has promised to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to expel suspected members of drug cartels from the country without due process. Trump’s extreme immigration views suggest that his administration would plan to target more than violent criminals, undermining protections for legal immigrants as well.

Trump’s new “border czar,” Tom Homan, previously said that he expected support from the U.S. military and special operations to carry out their immigration blitz.

Alt-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer’s fiery spat with Elon Musk has quietly ended with a bent knee and a plea for the X chief to reinstate her blue check status on his website.

“I appreciated the conversation last night with @AdrianDittmann and others,” Loomer wrote, referring to an individual that has been widely speculated to be Musk’s burner account. “It was productive & informative, and I look forward to more of these conversations in the future. I also hope that @elonmusk will agree to reinstate my @premium features.”

Loomer, a self-described journalist and “white advocate,” went head-to-head with Musk last week over the billionaire’s ardent defense of the H-1B work visa program.

In several posts, Loomer accused Musk of having “bought his way into MAGA,” claimed he was a pawn of China, and said that the “divorce” between the “stage 5 clinger” and President-elect Donald Trump was on the horizon.

That was apparently enough back talk to strip Loomer of her verified status on the site—a loss that, for her, warranted backtracking on her previous positions.

“My comments do not come from hate, but rather compassion for the struggle of the everyday American,” she continued in a separate post. “I believe loyalty is the most important quality, and I am loyal to my country and my people. I want what’s best for Americans. And I will always keep fighting for Americans.”

Loomer’s renowned Islamophobia and xenophobia were extreme enough to shove her temporarily away from the MAGA movement earlier this year after she posted that Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascendency to the Oval Office would make the White House “smell like curry.” Loomer has also taken credit for urging Trump to utter the Haitian migrant conspiracy theory that wrecked Ohio in the months leading up to the election.

Meanwhile, the account that supposedly convinced Loomer to concede the fight has some otherwise inexplicable ties to the Tesla CEO. Dittmann also purports to be a South African billionaire with identical beliefs to Musk. The account frequently responds to Musk’s posts, supporting his decisions related to his forthcoming government positions and the way in which the tech leader is raising his children. But the account also, at times, goes so far as to speak on behalf of Musk, organizing events with Musk’s friends while continuing to claim that the two aren’t affiliated.

X users felt that the illusion was completely shattered over the weekend, when Dittman participated in an X space using his actual voice—and, suspiciously, had the exact same cadence, accent, and vocal intonations as Musk himself.

Donald Trump’s public condolences for former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the age of 100 on Sunday, sparked an uproar among his own fans.

“I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday.

“The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude,” Trump wrote. “Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter Family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers.”

Apparently, that relatively simple statement was too much for some in the MAGA crowd, according to RawStory.

“Lol, I know you’re being nice. But you’re tripping,” replied an account called Theodore Winters. “Carter was a terrible president and damaged The United States Of America to such an extent that we are STILL dealing with his horribly policy decisions and his inflation repercussions in 2024.”

“I get it. He just passed. And we have to be respectful and nice. But let’s still keep it real,” Winters added.

An account called Commieskillpuppies noted that the president-elect’s words wouldn’t have any political value. “I appreciate your graciousness toward him but it won’t win you any points from the leftists,” the user wrote. “They’re soulless.”

One user, John55, who identified himself as an “America First” veteran on his profile, complained that Carter had pardoned draft dodgers during the Vietnam War—with no recognition that Trump himself dodged the Vietnam War draft.

“Jimmy Carter pardoned all the Vietnam draft dodgers that forced other men to take their place! Many of these men did not come home,” the user wrote. “Personally, I think Carter lived a long life to suffer for the pardons to the draft dodgers he pardoned.”

It’s possible that these reactions were just adjusting to the shock of the president-elect’s standard condolence statement, especially seeing how Trump has disparaged Carter in the past.

After Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate performance in June, Trump claimed that Carter was the “happiest guy around” because he now “looked like a genius” compared to Biden. The thirty-ninth president was in hospice at the time.

Representative Cori Bush is on her way out of Congress. Her only regret? That she “could’ve flipped a few more tables.”

The progressive Squad member gave an exit interview to Politico published Wednesday addressing her time in Congress and what lies ahead for herself and the country.

Bush, who was defeated by AIPAC-backed prosecutor Wesley Bell in the Democratic primary, said she wishes she had fought harder for a ceasefire in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

I don’t really operate in regret, but I will say I wish that I could have pushed harder as it relates to our cease-fire now resolution, and done more to save lives.

I left it all on the field. I put my life and my livelihood on the line, because so many have lost their lives. I wish that I could have done more, and I wish that my colleagues who later have said, “OK, this is too much. It’s gone too far,” I wish they would have heard us when we first started to speak to this, because our work was coming from a place of wanting to save as many people as we could — the lives of all people, whether Israeli or Palestinian, people abroad and people in the United States.

I probably could have flipped over a few more tables.

Bush was one of a handful of representatives to call for a ceasefire in Gaza soon after Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s disproportionate response, filing a ceasefire resolution on October 16 of that same year. And she was one of a very small group of congressmen to consistently call for said ceasefire, even donning a keffiyeh and holding a sign reading “STOP SENDING BOMBS” during President Biden’s State of the Union address in March.

Bush also spent ample time in the interview deriding the corporatism of the Democratic Party.

“Democratic leadership must make the decision that this corporate money should not be able to be used in Democratic primaries. Because that was the deciding factor in this race,” she told Politico. “Democrats have to ban corporate PAC donations, and specifically have to speak up and push to ban the super PAC spending in our Democratic primaries. That is the only way that this does not happen again, because I wasn’t unseated because I didn’t take care of my community.”

She told Politico she’ll always consider herself a Squad member.

“The Squad is big.… The number of people in Congress on the team will just be smaller. But they’ve never been silent. Anyone who underestimates our power is severely mistaken, because we aren’t going anywhere,” Bush said. “The one thing that we all had in common, or at least most of us had in common entering Congress, was to be authentically ourselves … because we felt like those voices were missing in the Congress. The voices of, for me, being the nurse, Jamaal [Bowman] being the principal, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] being a bartender.… I don’t think that will change.”

Bush also noted that she wished she knew how expensive being a congresswoman was before she started, and how deeply hierarchical the party was.

“Seniority plays so much of a role in who gets what committee assignment, what bills are brought to the floor.… We see in the Republican conference they don’t seem to go by seniority as much. I think that the Democrats, we need to pay attention to that.”

Bush refused to rule out a return to politics in the near future.