From 'worst president' to 'highest respect': Trump softens opinion of Jimmy Carter in death
WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump had only kind words to say about Jimmy Carter upon his death on Sunday, calling the former president “a truly good man” who will be missed.
At Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, flags were flying at half-staff on Monday in Carter’s honor.
Trump offered a far less charitable view of Carter when he was alive.
For years, Trump, a Republican, has mocked the one-term, Democratic commander-in-chief as the nation’s worst president. Just two months ago, on Carter’s 100th birthday, Trump suggested the terminally ill centenarian was happy because Joe Biden had finally replaced him as the worst president ever.
Carter often gave as good as he got. A Georgia peanut farmer before he got his start in politics, Carter was no Georgia peach when it came to his assessment of Trump.
When late-night TV host Stephen Colbert asked him in 2018 if Americans wanted “kind of a jerk” as their leader, Carter didn’t miss a beat. "Apparently, from this recent election, yes,” he retorted.
Earlier this year, Carter suggested to his son, Chip Carter, that he wanted to live long enough to vote for Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, in November. Two weeks before election, Carter’s office confirmed that he had voted by mail. For Harris.
Amid the barrage of insults and smack talk were temporary moments of rapprochement between the 39th and the 45th presidents.
During Trump’s first term, Carter occasionally came to his defense.
Carter not only attended Trump’s first inauguration, he was the first former president to RSVP. Later that year, in 2017, Carter suggested the media had been harder on Trump than any other president. Trump responded by tweeting a message of thanks to Carter for “the nice remarks.”
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In 2019, Trump’s White House announced that Carter had written Trump a “beautiful” letter about trade talks with China and that the two men had had a "very good telephone conversation" on China and other topics.
"The president has always liked President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter and extended his best wishes to them on behalf of the American people," the White House statement said.
If Trump liked Carter, he seldom let it show.
In 2014, Trump joked that Carter was dead, even though the former president was very much alive. While speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump referred to the "late, great Jimmy Carter."
“Of course I don't think Jimmy Carter is dead,” he tweeted later amid criticism for the gaffe. “Just being sarcastic,” he said, adding, “but never thought he was alive as President, stiff!"
On several occasions, Trump called Carter the worst president in history – at least until Barack Obama came along.
"I never thought I'd say it in my lifetime, but President Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Sotoro, is a far worse president than Jimmy Carter!" Trump said in 2014.
Trump, who has a tendency to change his stories to suit his audience, offered a slightly different take after Biden defeated him in 2020. He suggested several times that Biden, not Obama, had replaced Carter as the worst president ever.
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For his part, Carter called Trump “a disaster” of a president during a 2018 interview with The Washington Post and suggested the Republican held “an attitude of ignorance toward the truth.”
The next year, Carter told his church congregation in Plains, Georgia, that Trump had called him to discuss the letter he had sent to Trump about China. Carter suggested China would likely surpass the U.S. as an economic superpower because it had been able to avoid the military entanglements that have drained funds that might otherwise have been spent on infrastructure.
"I don’t really fear that time, but it bothers President Trump, and I don’t know why,” Carter said. “I’m not criticizing him – this morning," he added.After Trump was elected to a second term in November, Carter, who had been in hospice for nearly two years, announced he would not attend Trump’s inauguration but would be there if not for his deteriorating health.
In a pair of statements after Carter’s passing, Trump made reference to his disagreements with the former president.
This time, however, he not only dispensed with the insults, he even suggested that Carter had earned his respect.
“While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for,” he wrote. “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.”
Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump drops Jimmy Carter insults after ex-president's death