President Donald Trump said he believes former President Jimmy Carter “died a happy man” — but it wasn’t exactly a polite comment in context.
During an Oval Office meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on April 17, Trump shared pointed comments about two former United States presidents, Carter and former President Joe Biden. Carter, who was the longest-living U.S. president, died on Dec. 29 at age 100.
“The last administration, the only thing they were good at was cheating in elections. That’s all they could do,” Trump claimed, repeating a debunked lie that Biden stole the 2020 election. “They couldn’t do anything. They were useless. They were incompetent — worst administration in the history of our country.”
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Then, Trump brought Carter into the conversation, saying the last administration was “worse than Jimmy Carter.”
“Jimmy Carter died a happy man,” Trump continued. “You know why? Because he wasn’t the worst. President Joe Biden was.”
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Trump shared similar comments on Carter’s 100th birthday on Oct. 1, claiming Carter was “the happiest man because Jimmy Carter is considered a brilliant president” when compared to Biden.
Though Carter was a Democrat, Republican politicians suspended partisan divisions to honor his historic birthday.
Days after Carter’s death — and more than two weeks before Trump took office for his second term — Trump expressed frustration that American flags would fly half-staff during his inauguration.
The practice — which applies to “all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels” — is standard for the death of any current or former president, according to the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, and lasts for 30 days afterwards.
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“In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Jan. 3. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it.”
Nevertheless, the flags were at full-staff on Inauguration Day. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson declared on Jan. 14 that he — the person in charge of lowering the flags at the Capitol building — would make sure the flags were full-staff at Trump’s inauguration.
Carter was never Trump’s biggest fan. In a 2018 interview with The Washington Post., the former president denounced Trump’s character and his policies — a sudden shift for Carter, as he had been less vocal about the White House’s movements than other former presidents.
“I think he’s a disaster … In human rights and in treating people equal,” the 39th president said.
His wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, added, “The worst is that he is not telling the truth, and that just hurts everything.”
Weeks later, again Carter spoke out against Trump. In an interview with CBS News, Carter said Trump is “careless with the truth.”
“I think it’s well-known that the incumbent president is very careless with the truth,” Carter said. “I think I went through my campaign and my presidency without ever lying to the people or making a deliberately false statement, and I think that would be a very worthwhile thing to reinsert into politics these days.”
