Donald Trump is lowering flags for Dolly Parton while desecrating her legacy of inclusion and respect

This story originally appeared on Them.

There are few celebrities whose passing could inspire such universal mourning as Dolly Parton. The country music legend and renowned philanthropist died today at age 80, turning all of our social media feeds into a sea of black-and-white portraits and tearful remembrances.

Surprisingly, those grieving Parton’s passing included one figure whose entire political career runs counter to her legacy of inclusion and respect: Donald Trump, who ordered the flag of the United States of America to be lowered for a one-week period beginning tonight.

“Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away,“ Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will.”

Broken clocks are right twice a day and so, apparently, are failed presidents. But what Trump doesn’t realize is that the reason so many people will experience Parton’s death as a “true loss” is because she stood for love, compassion, and kindness — all qualities that are especially lacking in Trump’s second administration.

Let’s take it issue by issue. Dolly Parton was no politician, and famously avoided partisan rhetoric in her public appearances, but humanity has no party — and she repeatedly made it clear where she stood.

On immigration, Donald Trump has consistently demeaned people from other countries, largely people of color — and campaigned on delivering the “largest deportation” in American history. We have seen that cruelty borne out in detention centers, ICE-involved killings, and federal agents forcibly removing people from their homes. While Dolly Parton didn’t publicly condemn Trump’s immigration policy, I think her 1980 cover of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” speaks for itself. The song, about Mexican migrant workers who died in a fatal accident while being deported by airplane, includes the stirring line: “We died ’neath your trees and we died in your bushes/Both sides of the river, we died just the same.”

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On children’s literacy, Donald Trump campaigned on dismantling the Department of Education — and even signed an executive order in March of last year with that aim, though its destructive intent cannot be fulfilled without an accompanying act of Congress. Dolly Parton’s most widely known charitable initiative, by contrast, was the Imagination Library, which has given hundreds of millions of free books to children. At the state level, Republican lawmakers tried to freeze and slash funding to the vital program, prompting a relatively rare political statement — by proxy, at least — from Parton.

“The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all — regardless of politics — because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed,” Vice Chair and President of the Dollywood Foundation Jeff Conyers said last February, urging the Indiana GOP to continue its “vital investment” in the organization.

And, of course, on LGBTQ+ rights, Donald Trump has seemingly made it his sworn mission to attack our community at every turn, with the vitriol and hurtful policymaking only ramping up in his second term. His administration has reserved its worst attacks for transgender people, targeting rights to restroom use, to obtaining correct identity markers on government documents, to employment protections, and so much more. Dolly Parton, meanwhile, adored the LGBTQ+ community, frequently collaborating with queer artists, defending her queer fans, and embracing her status as a drag icon, as The Advocate has documented.

She also had LGBTQ+ family members and employees herself, as she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 when asked about anti-trans legislation in her home state of Tennessee. “I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees,” she said. “I’ve got transgender people. I’ve got gays. I’ve got lesbians. I’ve got drunks. I’ve got drug addicts — all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge.”

With her trademark humor, she added, “They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton, you know, the way people know me.”

If only Donald Trump could help being Donald Trump, a sad, venal man whose time in power has been spent countering many of the values Dolly Parton held dear. If the president wants to honor her, he should do a lot more than fly the flag at half-mast.

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