During Jimmy Carter’s Presidency, I shared what was then a widespread opinion–that he wasn’t up to the job, that the country’s economic problems were a consequence of Presidential ineptitude. My evaluation was based on the sort of superficial knowledge and media coverage upon which most busy people rely (I was a newly-minted lawyer with three small children at home–four if you counted the husband I had at that time.)
I’ve since come to appreciate the considerable contributions Carter made both in office and after. His death has unleashed multiple reports of those contributions. The obituaries and commentaries have also focused–quite rightly–on the fact of his decency. In an age when the label “Christian” is dishonored daily by racists and White nationalists claiming the title, Carter’s life honored the term.
Whatever disagreements Americans might legitimately have with Carter’s Presidential performance or policy positions, it’s unbelievably depressing to compare his life–characterized by integrity, human kindness and concern for the common good–with that of the degenerate specimen we are about to inaugurate.
Recently, a reader shared with me a lengthy post he’d come across, responding to the question: why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid? I’m reproducing it below.
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THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:
That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/trump-university…/502387002/)
That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.” (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-paid-millions…)
That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.” (https://abcnews.go.com/…/list-trumps-accusers…/story…)
That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/donald-trumps…/)
That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you exclaimed, “He sure knows me.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/president-donald…/4073405002/)
That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to which Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting, and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, “That’s cool!” (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story)
That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. (https://www.nbcnews.com/…/donald-trump-criticized-after…)
That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?” (https://www.theatlantic.com/…/americas-first…/549794/)
That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/what-trump-has…/1501321001/)
That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!” (https://www.latimes.com/…/la-na-trump-campaign-protests…)
That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!” (https://www.independent.co.uk/…/donald-trump-orders…)
That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!” (https://www.theatlantic.com/…/why-cant-trump…/567320/)
That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.” (https://www.huffpost.com/…/trump-insult-foreign…)
That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!” (https://www.politico.com/…/138-trump-policy-changes…)
That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!” (https://www.usnews.com/…/how-is-donald-trump-profiting…)
That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/the-very-big-ocean…/)
That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!” (https://www.cnn.com/…/donald-trump-dictators…/index.html)
That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “Well, OK then.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/…/more-5-400-children-split…)
That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. (https://www.americanprogress.org/…/confronting-cost…/)
What you don’t get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also…hear me…charitable.
Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.
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We’ve descended a very long way from Jimmy Carter…..
Yes, the contrast between good and bad men couldn’t be more stark than it is right now.
Thank you Jimmy Carter for being the world’s role model.
Maybe Jimmy can pull some strings from the other side
Having worked in Indianapolis Republican City Government for 20 years, voting as an Independent, I became disabled during Goldsmith’s Mayoral administration in 1994. Working inside City Government in my home town gave me an advantage of being aware of local politics and politicians. I moved to Florida to be near my aging staunch Republican father and had to learn to seek information on candidates of both parties to make intelligent decisions. Each election day Dad and went together to our local polling place to cancel one another out…we never talked politics. In 2000 I totally gave up seeking more information on Florida Republican candidates and sat through that infamous “recount” which was overseen by George W’s little brother Governor Jeb Bush. After Dad’s death I moved back to Indianapolis in August 2001, in time for 9/11, and had to research Indianapolis politics and politicians; the Goldsmith destruction of the local Republican party had changed the situation here but not the die hard staunch Republican voters.
Trump’s business scams and sexual antics were in the news regularly as they had been for a number of years prior to 2015. Republicans have not fallen; they remain the same and are hanging on for their lives to a party name while their party died out 3 decades ago. Sadly; the Democratic party has been cowed into submission to just not bother seeking viable candidates or even go to the polls to vote for the few Democratic nominees that have been put before them. President Jimmy Carter was the standard bearer for humanitarianism; he exhibited it to the end of his 100 years of life. There were none like him before or after his presidency and there will never be again. Trump has removed the few vestiges of humanity remaining in the Republican party and his threats to deport all immigrants should begin with his co-president Elon Musk.
But relax; we can’t fall any lower than Trump, Musk, Vance, Taylor-Green and our current House of Representatives and the weakened Senate. We can hope to live through what is coming but, personally, like Vern I’m glad I’m really old and have no intention of using health care to keep me here. I have long outlived my usefulness to anyone, including myself.
It’s been said that apples don’t fall far from their trees, and DT is a good example of the truth of that. Unfortunately, so is our upcoming VP JDV or the ruler of all the surveys, EM.
It has to be said that the one-quarter of adult Americans who voted to turn over the world’s largest asset to them are, too.
Professor-this list is priceless. D
Perfect blog today. Carter and the ugly man are antithetic to each other in every way. So, those terms for the Trump voter/lover … the list is long and terrible. Then, it’s who Trump voters are: They are him and he is them.
What a nightmare.
I suggest those who defend Trump voters as not just racists or ignorant probably voted for Trump last month and don’t see themselves as either. Remember, these people owned “wokeness!!”
Quite frankly, they are too ignorant to understand the opposite of being awake—asleep. I worked hard to become awake or consciously aware of myself and my surroundings. We call the opposite automatons or going through life like a robot with a closed mind.
Jimmy Carter was not the best POTUS, but he made up for it many times over with his good deeds. He lived the life of a Christian role model.
I had just graduated from high school, and the local economy was so bad that laid-off union workers from the factories were working at McDonald’s. The only jobs in the newspaper were selling Avon products. I moved to Florida in 1983 under Reagan.
One update on yesterday’s post about Mammoth Nation: They are a ghost company. I spent hours trying to trace their ownership to a company or individual, but I came up empty-handed. They claim they give money to conservative candidates, but all I could find is an 8-year-old $250.00 donation to a Wisconsin senator where they are located in Green Bay. It’s clearly a scam to separate conservatives from their money, which is perfectly fine with me. Trump is also a grifter scamming ignorant people.
Remember that Trump kept a copy of Mein Kampf on his nightstand, and Hitler was not very kind to the masses in Germany. It was all about manipulation and control, which only required a little propaganda. 😉
I was still in High school when Carter was President. I read a lengthy obituary and surprisingly I was familiar with most of his accomplishments of his presidency as well as his one big failure, the Iran hostage crisis. The obituary failed to mention the recently revealed manipulation by the Regan campaign team to negotiate with the Iranians before the election to make sure no hostages would be released while Carter was in office. If I remember correctly the person involved in this negotiation was none other than a Trump associate. Paul Manafort.
What surprised me in the obituary was the huge list of truly amazing accomplishments after Carter left office. Very few people can say they truly left the world better than they found it. RIP
Jimmy Carters presidency led to a huge swing in politics. He was a good man but his policies to feed the whole world upended the family farm. The following presidency had several issues that people voted in in huge land slides.
Moderate taxes with moderate spending is what we long fo.
Thank you for continuing to fight the good fight. To make good noise. To have good faith.
I worry about our future but, then, are reminded there are good people out there—just not that man who will be in office for four years.
Farewell to a man,and his partner.Some one who went above,and beyond to help,along with his Carter Center that found,decent people who came together to make his work ongoing. Todays people should stop and look at what can be done and who it affects.
I remember the long lines at the gas stations – getting gas on even or odd days depending on the last digit of one’s license plate – and the unfortunate Iran hostage crisis, which Carter so badly wanted to end (and most likely would have save for a crashed military helicopter), along with the monumental Israel-Egypt accord he orchestrated, and many other actions during his four years in office, but as I heard one reporter say yesterday, his legacy really began after leaving office. No other President has come remotely close to walking the talk, to living what could only be described as a truly Christian life, than Jimmy Carter, right up to his death at 100. He was a remarkable statesman in those terms, a singularly beautiful person in a complicated, messy world, helping to build homes (Habitat For Humanity), monitoring elections worldwide, speaking out on equality and many other issues. etc. R.I.P. Mr. Carter; we loved you for being better than we could imagine being.
Iran/Contra was big news during the George Herbert Walker Bush administration. There are a few names from that scandal that are memorable, like Bob McFarlane, Oliver North, and John Poindexter. These three became National Security Advisors to Reagan. The CIA donated five staffers to the cause. State had only Elliott Abrams, Defense had only Casper Weinberger, and there were five independent operators.
This should have been the scandal of the century, but not with the holdover from Reagan in charge. Seven of the players pled guilty. A few pled to lesser offenses.
If we want to learn the lessons of history, a good way to start is paying attention to what is happening today. Tomorrow it will be history
I wasnt going to dirty Pres Carters tribute with a follow up on todays subject.being from Jersey and growing up in the shadow of NYC literally. trump like scum walks around with impunity. and always has. commercial/social media has glorified this scum with everyday presense in todays news/media world.the people have become numb over dirty laundry. the thinktank mob hired to direct then implement its propaganda. now becoming the propaganda ministers of hate. The nazi plan still works today. We study today how and why.we discuss the outcomes and how to defeat it. unless theres a real,awaking,in todays world. we will witness only the take over by money and greed and hate to further its march to a dictaorship. Blame anyone and its a full assault on that person who,spoke out..near everyone judges by deception,not knowlege. the fact is, one whole political party and most of another,our so called leaders have sown the very seeds of this takeover with the media eating every issue with nothing to say except,expect it.no counter opinion,just get in line and help democracy die..the ones who spoke out were shoved out by media to the door home.as I watched this christmas outtings and shoppers, seems like its all merry merry. now comes the real judgement.. Im tired,and turing 70. like past defenders of democracy,today i see it die along with a America that stood for good until trump and the media decided money will rule now.. fuck trump.
I don’t think of them as stupid, more like self-centered and entitled, willfully ignorant, and willing to do just about anything to keep their privileged status in their home, community, business or religious group. They are not unique by any measure. People like them have always been among us, from the very foundations of the country when our Founders compromised with the southern aristocracy. Almost every internal crisis we have had can be laid at the feet of these same kinds of people.
I don’t understand them. How does it make them safer and more secure in their status when everyone around them suffers? I truly do not understand non-white men, white women, any minority for that matter who support those so obviously causing them pain of any kind. I struggle to see how that can make them satisfied or even happy unless they are mentally ill. I can’t think of any reason for their actions that truly benefits them in the long term.
History is replete with the horrific results of putting people who think like they do in power. We only have to look around the world today to find many examples of what hate and hubris can do to a community/state/country.
The last year has been one of personal struggles combined with the horrendous results of our state and federal elections. I am glad it has finally come to a close. The New Year seems to promise more of the same in both cases.
May we all stay in touch and supportive of one another in a world where that seems to be an anomaly. President Carter would be an excellent role model for all of us.
Gil;
no one forced the emabassy people in iran to stay,they did it on their accord. their decission.they were warned by the state dept. and it became what it was.
reagan and his cronys used it,and ran with deception. now its become the norm.
Hey Jack, I’m with you, as a New Yorker from across the river.
I could not help thinking of the hugely stark comparison between Carter, a real human, and tfg, a real sicko, and his sycophants, when the news broke about Carter’s death.
We have fallen far!
Thought this was one of your clearest and best presentations. Thank you for your research. I know almost nobody who supports Trump and his minions, and you have helped me know why. And, now, we have the opportunity to think more clearly about a comparison between Carter and him, if we need one. HOW can anyone think Trump and Musk are leading our nation toward anything positive for the world? We were respected, that will be gone. God help us.
I am inclined to think that Jimmy Carter may have been the second coming of Jesus Christ and the world missed it just like it did the first coming. We will pay dearly for our oversight! That is my opinion as I slide downhill toward 84.
In my youth I thought Jimmy Carter was a terrible President and admired Republicans like Nixon and Reagan. I, like everyone else was was ignorant of the fact that both violated the Constitution by secretly negotiating with foreign adversaries to prolong hostilities in order that the Republicans could be elected. I am appalled at my ignorance and even more that some of the 4th estate knew, and failed to report, about the chicanery. I think that it is evident that Trump has done similar things and it is obvious to anybody watching that he is flagrantly negotiating with other governments to establish new policies even before he is inaugurated., which is another violation of the Constitution. He should be, but won’t, impeached a third time.
The edifice of government is on fire and the politicians of both parties are either watching it burn, or in the case of the MAGAts, are trying to add fuel to the fire. I am fearful that we are doomed!
What about the voters who are not Maga but still voted for Trump?
Those voters don’t even know about the mind-bending accounts of Trump’s previous actions. Many are too busy trying to make ends meet or they are busy raising a family or just don’t care to pay attention to what is happening in politics. They get their news from social media, certainly not television or (worse) the news paper!
All they hear about is the invasion of immigrants and the horrible things they do and your jobs they are taking.
They go to the grocery store and the prices have gone up. It doesn’t matter that they have gotten raises at work to offset the rising prices. They are still paying too much for food. (Yes, price gouging is responsible for most high prices. Price gouging? What is that?)
Those two things are important to them and they know Trump will fix that.
Now they think Trump won in a landslide instead of the truth that he won by only 1.6%. THAT is not a mandate!Again, social media is their source of information.
Wait until Trump imposes tariffs. (What are tariffs? The country they are imposed on pay, right?). If we are lucky Trump will be talked out of tariffs.
These voters don’t realize that Trump is filling his cabinet with unqualified people because he is the leader of chaos and he wants to disrupt government. What happens when we need a well run government and the buffoons in charge can’t respond with authority?
Democracy will be upended all around. It’s a wait and see prognosis.
The Dems can resist as much as they can until the 2026 election when resisting will be magnified. Only time will tell and hope we can secure democracy again in 2028.