Trump Compliments Jimmy Carter & We're Betting He Hasn't Heard His Final Wish

Donald Trump recently spoke with Dr. Phil (who's notably had a lot to say about the former president over the years) in a wide-ranging interview during which he talked about his assassination attempt, whether or not he's actually a threat to democracy, and lots more. One of the more surprising topics that came up during their chat was Former President Jimmy Carter. While discussing mail-in ballots and fraud, Trump had some faint praise for his fellow former commander-in-chief. "Jimmy Carter, who's the happiest man alive today because his administration is brilliant by comparison to Harris and Biden," he enthused (via X, formerly known as Twitter). The divisive politician also referred to a commission that Jimmy was on and how it vindicated one of his biggest conspiracy theories. 

Back in 2005, the Commission on Federal Election Reform found that "absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud," per the Baker Institute of Public Policy. Trump has long raged against mail-in ballots, and it's clear that he thinks Carter backs him in that fight. We're not sure that he would be quite so eager to name drop Jimmy given who the former POTUS plans to vote for, though. It turns out that the 99-year-old is apparently hoping to live long enough to cast his vote against Trump. "He's super aware," Jason Carter, Jimmy's grandson said. "Just recently, we were talking about his 100th birthday, and he said, 'Yeah, I'm excited about that, but I'm really excited to vote for Kamala Harris,'" (via Reuters). Thus, it's clear Jimmy isn't on board with Trump's ballot complaints.

Jimmy Carter has been in hospice care since early 2023, but he's still clearly paying close attention to politics. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been name-checking Carter frequently during this election cycle, claiming that President Joe Biden's time in office was worse than Carter's, whose one-term presidency has been routinely vilified as memorable solely for its many failures. It's a bit of an odd comparison for Trump to bring up too. As pollster Zac McCrary opined, "It's akin to a Democrat launching an attack on Gerald Ford or Herbert Hoover or William McKinley. It doesn't signify anything to voters except Trump taking a cheap shot at a figure that most Americans at this point believe has given a lot to his country and to the world," per AP News. 

Even more damningly, Carter previously claimed that Trump's first presidency only came about because of Russian interference. Despite Carter being a long-time friend of Biden and his reported support of Kamala Harris in the 2024 elections, Carter attended Trump's 2017 inauguration as a show of respect for the transfer of power. In contrast, Trump infamously declined to attend Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration.