DeSantis orders flags at half-staff to commemorate 'life and legacy' of Jimmy Buffett

The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered some U.S. and Florida state flags to be flown at half-staff to commemorate "the life and legacy" of Jimmy Buffett, the "Margaritaville" singer who died last week.

According to a release, DeSantis' office on Thursday Sept. 7 ordered the lowered flags at the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West, Key West City Hall and the State Capitol in Tallahassee.

The flags were to be at half-staff from 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, to 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 8, because "it’s always five o’clock somewhere," according to a release and a nod to one of Buffett's hit songs.

Buffett, a part-time Palm Beach resident who died this month from cancer at the age of 76, was a champion for the preservation of manatees, co-founding the Save the Manatees Club that became instrumental in protecting the vulnerable sea cows and their habitats.

While Florida's state’s flag protocol says that beyond tragedies such as mass shootings, it’s appropriate to lower flags at half-staff to honor well-known public officials, and active-duty military members or law-enforcement officers who die in the line of duty, it's not the first time DeSantis has seemed to veer from that protocol.

When GOP radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, also a part-time Palm Beach resident, died of lung cancer at 70 two years ago, DeSantis ordered flags be flown at half-staff in Palm Beach town hall, the West Palm Beach courthouse and at the State Capitol in Tallahassee in honor of Limbaugh.

DeSantis justified lowering the flags for Limbaugh by saying the talk-show host was “an absolute legend. He was a friend of mine and just a great person.”

Palm Beach County officials refused to obey the directive to lower the flag at the courthouse for the bombastic talk-show host.

More: Palm Beach County defies governor, won't lower flags for Rush Limbaugh

Nikki Fried, who was Florida’s secretary of agriculture, and the only Democrat in the Florida cabinet at the time, said it was inappropriate to lower the flags for Limbaugh.

“The flag is a symbol of our country, representing freedom and patriotism and liberty, and is supposed to be lowered to honor those who have served,” Fried said at the time. “To lower the flag for somebody who has spent his entire career talking hate and bigotry and dividing our country and spewing conspiracy theories is not the way we honor those who have fought for our flag.”

Fast-forward two years. After Buffett died, Fried, who is now the head of the Democratic Party in Florida, asked DeSantis to order the flags flown at half-staff for the music star, whom she called a “true Florida icon.”

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She, in effect, was asking DeSantis to ignore the flag protocol in the same way he did with Limbaugh.

“For so many of us, (Buffett’s) music is the soundtrack of our endless summers,” Fried said in her request. “Jimmy’s lyrics pay tribute to the history and culture of our state — his memory will live on in piano bars and boat radios for generations to come.”

Then, in a state where we're not really surprised by anything anymore, Fried, who in 2022 ran and lost in the gubernatorial Democratic primary with hopes of unseating DeSantis, on Thursday thanked DeSantis for lowering the flags for Buffett.

"Everyone hold your breath … thank you Ron for making the right decision to order the lowering of Florida’s flags in Key West & TLH in honor of a tremendous Floridian," Fried posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Ron DeSantis orders flags to fly at half-staff for Jimmy Buffett