Trump to lower flags in memory of coronavirus victims

President Trump said Thursday he will lower flags on government buildings to half-staff to honor the almost 100,000 Americans who have died of coronavirus.

“I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus,” Trump tweeted.

He noted flags will remain at half-staff on Monday for Memorial Day. 

….On Monday, the flags will be at half-staff in honor of the men and women in our Military who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice for our Nation.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2020

There are more than 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and more than 94,000 people in the country have died from the virus.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote Trump earlier Thursday urging the president to lower flags once the U.S. reaches the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus.  

“It would serve as a national expression of grief so needed by everyone in our country,” the Democratic leaders wrote.

The president regularly notes that he believes one death from the virus is too many and insists the pandemic has been hard on him given the loss of life. But he has spent significantly more time over the last couple months defending his administration’s response to the coronavirus, lashing out at his critics and lamenting that the economy has cratered.