President orders all flags to half-staff for a slain conservative activist; he did not issue a similar order for a slain state legislator three months earlier.

Pay attention. On Wednesday, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot dead at an event at Utah Valley University. A real assassination. A young man on a roof, a single rifle, one shot, in front of a crowd of college kids. That is a tragedy. I am not making any joke about that. That part is a hard, real American horror. Family. Two children. Lower the damn flag.

The flag was lowered. The President issued a proclamation that night. In honor of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot, the order read, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6 p.m. Standard tribute. White House, military posts, federal buildings worldwide.

Buddy. Here is the problem. Three months ago, in June, Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in her own home alongside her husband Mark, by a gunman who had a list of state legislators he was hunting. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot the same night. Same gunman. The Hoffmans survived. The Hortmans did not.

The President did not order federal flags to half-staff for Hortman. The proclamation channel was quiet. Several governors lowered the state flag in their states. The federal order, which is the one every other state actually follows, was not issued.

I have been arguing with televisions for thirty years. The flag is not a political flag. The flag is the flag. The half-staff order, when it goes out from the desk of the President, is supposed to mean the country is in mourning. The country, when an elected state legislator is shot in her own home, is also in mourning. The country, when a prominent activist is shot at a debate, is also in mourning. Both are in mourning. Equally.

The flag is not a prize. The flag is the flag.

I am not arguing with the half-staff for Kirk. I am arguing with the no half-staff for Hortman. The first decision makes the second decision visible. The first decision backfilled the second decision. The flag, for three days in Minnesota, in June, was the flag of the State of Minnesota, alone.

I’m arguing with the television. The television is showing the half-staff. The television is showing it correctly now.