Trump mourning period for Dolly Parton longer than Pope Francis or Charlie Kirk

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Aug 27, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s seven-day mourning period for Dolly Parton with American flags lowered to half-staff at all government buildings is longer than the ones he ordered for Pope Francis or Charlie Kirk.

The stars-and-stripes tribute to the country music legend outstrips the four-day period Trump proclaimed for Kirk after the conservative activist’s murder last September and the five-day one bestowed upon Francis after the Argentina-born pontiff died of natural causes on the day after Easter Sunday last year.

He made a similar edict to honor the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for five days after his sudden death last month.

Trump said he was acting on behalf of a heartbroken nation and world when he announced American flags would be lowered oTuesday to honor Parton, and not raised to their normal positions until Sept. 1.

“This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will,” he wrote on his social media site.

Trump also claimed that Parton “really liked me” in an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck, although it’s unclear if the two ever even met.

Parton, who died at 80 while quietly battling cancer according to family, was famously apolitical and declined three Presidential Medal of Freedom offers from both Trump and former President Joe Biden. During the 2016 presidential campaign between Trump and Hillary Clinton, Parton declared: “they’re both nuts.”

Last September, Trump joined a wave of tributes to Kirk after the charismatic 31-year-old leader of a right-wing youth group was shot dead by a sniper while delivering a political speech on a Utah college campus.

“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,” Trump wrote about Kirk on his social media site.

It’s traditional for American flags to be lowered at federal buildings and elsewhere in honor of political leaders when they die.

The deaths of former presidents are typically marked with a 30-day period of flags flying at half-staff. Republican congressional leaders interrupted that period for Jimmy Carter and ordered flags raised to full staff for Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.

Presidents have occasionally also bestowed the honor on activists or pop culture figures, normally for a single day on the day of their burial, but occasionally for a longer period.

President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered flags lowered for four days after the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Trump ordered flags lowered on the day of the burial of evangelist Billy Graham in 2018 and President George W. Bush issued a similar tribute to singer Bob Hope in 2003.

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