President Trump has certainly gained few allies during his time on the job so far. He has marked his time in office by policy proposals that could in some cases literally tear people apart from their loved ones, so that’s hardly surprising. Coming into office promising to ban an entire religion from coming to the country is hardly going to gain the president allies outside of his initial base.
One of those who is unsurprisingly hardly on board with the president is Jimmy Carter, who himself is a former commander-in-chief of the United States. He appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this past Friday night, joking with the host about the present state of affairs in the United States.
Colbert led off the segment by jokingly pressing Carter about whether or not he would run for president and challenge Donald Trump in 2020, with there hardly so far having been a leading contender emerge to take on Trump.
Carter responded by joking that he thinks that 93 — his present age — is the age limit for entering the Oval Office.
Colbert then pointed out the stark contrast between the tone of Carter’s administration and the tone of the present administration, saying to the former president:
‘Were you too nice to be president? Because people criticized you for your demeanor and, you might say, the energy that was brought to the job. Does America want kind of a jerk as president?’
Carter responded by quipping:
‘Apparently from this recent election, yes. I never knew it before.’
Colbert then asked the former commander-in-chief for the one quality that is required to complete the job effectively, to which Carter replied:
‘I used to think it was to tell the truth, but I’ve changed my mind lately.’
Check out the full video of Carter’s appearance on Colbert’s show below. He went on to comment, when pressed, that he does in fact pray for Donald Trump, saying:
‘I pray that he will be a good president and that he will keep our country at peace, and that he will refrain from using nuclear weapons and that he will promote human rights.’
Carter certainly has legitimate concerns with the present occupant of the Oval Office. It is hardly even an established given at this point that he will never use nuclear weapons, with him having praised the idea of expanding the country’s nuclear arsenal in the past. Concurrently, his administration has moved to lower the threshold warranting a response from the U.S. with nuclear weapons.
Simultaneous to that issue, he has dragged the country close to conflict with interests like North Korea, although he has tempered his rhetoric on that front lately, having accepted an invitation from the North Koreans for a meeting with the nation’s dictator, Kim Jong Un.
As for other issues, he has long proven his allegiance to both lying and being a “jerk,” sometimes at the same time. He makes stuff up as it suits him, having been documented to have lied thousands of times already since taking office.
Carter has long proven himself as nothing like the president through such means as leading the Carter Center, which describes itself as dedicated to “human rights and the alleviation of human suffering.”
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
