:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/donald-trump-jimmy-carter-tout-100224-c6ec10ab9813473a8c708bf8844ae287.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "Donald Trump Mocks Jimmy Carter on His Milestone 100th Birthday")
Former President Carter turned a century old on Tuesday, Oct. 1, after spending more than 19 months in hospice care
Donald Trump mocked fellow former President Jimmy Carter during a campaign speech on his predecessor’s historic 100th birthday.
Trump, 78, brought up the 39th president of the U.S. while speaking at a manufacturing facility in Waunakee, Wis., on Tuesday, Oct. 1, according to PBS.
After calling President Joe Biden the worst president in U.S. history, Trump told the crowd, “Jimmy Carter is the happiest man because Jimmy Carter is considered a brilliant president by comparison,” according to The Daily Beast and USA Today.
Carter, a Democrat, was a one-term president from 1977 to 1981. He was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in his 1980 reelection bid.
Trump’s comment about the Carter legacy was made as other Republican leaders put aside partisanship to honor the longest-living president’s centennial birthday, which came more than 19 months after he entered hospice care in February 2023.
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Carter has been critical of Trump in the past. During a 2018 interview with CBS News, he claimed that Trump was “very careless with the truth,” a notion also raised in an interview with The Washington Post that same year.
“I think he’s a disaster … In human rights and in treating people equal,” Carter said at the time, before former first lady Rosalynn Carter — who died in November 2023 — chimed in.
“The worst is that he is not telling the truth, and that just hurts everything,” she added.
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Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his grandfather hopes to live long enough to cast his vote in this year’s presidential election.
“I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” President Carter reportedly told loved ones.
Early voting in Georgia, where Carter lives, opens on Oct. 15 for the Nov. 5 election, and absentee ballots are sent out up to 29 days before the election. Georgia does not have any laws prohibiting a ballot from being counted if someone dies between the early voting period and Election Day.
Carter is currently the oldest living former president and longest-living president in U.S. history.
Trump is currently the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history and the second-oldest person to be sworn in as president, behind Biden.
Donald Trump, 78, Is the Oldest Presidential Nominee in U.S. History
Trump has spent considerable energy over the past two years criticizing Joe Biden’s age. With Biden out of the race, the health spotlight is now back onto Trump, who is only three years younger
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With the news that Joe Biden is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump’s campaign is facing a new challenge: that the Republican — who has spent years criticizing Biden’s age — is now the oldest person in United States history to be nominated for president by a major party.
Biden, 81, has for years been subject to criticism about his perceived cognitive health, and polls have shown that a majority of voters had concerns about the president’s age even well before the 2024 campaign got underway.
But on Sunday, July 21, Biden dropped out of the presidential race in a historic move and promptly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is 59.
The news that Biden is no longer running means that the issue of age may now fall solely on 78-year-old Trump. Polls have long suggested that voters would prefer to see younger candidates on the general election ballot.
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As the oldest president in U.S. history, Biden routinely heard concerns about his ability to serve an additional four years, which would have made him 86 at the time he left office. But in recent weeks — particularly in the wake of the first 2024 presidential debate — many of those concerns came from leaders in Biden’s own party.
Republicans and the Trump campaign have seized on those criticisms even as far back as the 2020 campaign, when Trump referred to Biden as “Sleepy Joe.” In more recent months, Trump has refrained from directly criticizing Biden’s age, though he has mocked the Democrat for his debate performance.
Trump responded to the news of Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race with a Truth Social post, in which he claimed the president “is certainly not fit to serve – And never was!”
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly,” Trump wrote elsewhere in the post.
Biden became the oldest person to be sworn in as president of the United States at his 2021 inaugural ceremony, when he was 78. Trump was previously the oldest-ever president to take office, and was 70 at his 2017 inauguration.
If elected to serve a second term, Trump will leave office when he’s 82 years and 7 months old. That would surpass Biden’s anticipated record of 82 years and 2 months old, again making Trump the oldest president in U.S. history.
First 2024 Presidential Debate Recap: Joe Biden Sparks Concerns, Donald Trump Lies
A stunning debate between the two oldest U.S. presidents in history put the 2024 candidates’ track records, temperaments and cognitive health on full display
Joe Biden and Donald Trump reunited in Atlanta for an unprecedented presidential debate between two White House veterans.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash were tapped to moderate the first debate of the 2024 election cycle, which aired on Thursday, June 27. In a departure from the norm, the event did not feature a live studio audience.
Thursday’s debate carried weighty stakes for both candidates. Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, boasted near-identical poll numbers at the start of the night with only four months until Election Day — and amid a rematch between the oldest U.S. presidents in history, mental competency of both candidates was the question on many voters’ minds.
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Debate Night Started with Biden and Trump in a Tied Race
Biden and Trump began their first 2024 debate with polling showing them in a statistical dead heat.
At least three polls place the Democrat and Republican in a literal tie nationally, with Trump just barely ahead in swing states. Others — like a recent New York Times/Siena poll — show Trump ahead of Biden by as many as four points among registered voters.
The ramifications of the evening performances will be reflected in post-debate polling soon enough.
The Bidens Have a Long Night Ahead
President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden, who was there in support, can’t head home just yet. The first couple is scheduled to drop by a campaign event in Atlanta tonight before going wheels up for North Carolina. They will land in Raleigh just before 2 a.m. local time.
The Bidens are doing a post-debate campaign rally in North Carolina on Friday morning, then continuing on to New York for a series of weekend receptions.
The Debate Is Over
The debate has ended after about 100 minutes. The event left political strategists concerned over President Biden’s weak performance, and troubled by former President Trump’s repeated lies on the stage.
Trump Asked 3 Times Whether He’ll Accept the 2024 Election Results: ‘I Shouldn’t Have to Say That
Toward the end of the debate, Dana Bash asked if Trump would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election if he loses, after all legal challenges have been exhausted.
“I shouldn’t have to say that, but of course I believe that. It’s totally unacceptable,” he said, then accusing Biden of getting the world close to WWIII.
“The question was: Will you accept the results of the election, regardless of who wins?” Bash eventually interjected. Trump said that he wanted to continue talking about Biden and Russia.
“President Trump, the question was, ‘Will you accept the results of the election regardless of who wins?’ “
Trump said that if it’s fair and free, then “absolutely.” But, he claimed without evidence, the 2020 election wasn’t free, reciting a conspiracy theory that has not been supported.
“You can’t stand loss,” Biden said. “Something snapped in you when you lost last time.”
Trump and Biden Talk Golf
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In response to a question about his age, Trump said, “I just won two club championships. To do that you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way. And I do it. He can’t do it. I was willing to take a cognitive test … I aced ’em.”
Saying that he has asked Biden to play with him, Biden replied, “I’m happy to play golf with you if you carry your own bag.”
Trump then retorted, “I’ve seen your swing; I know your swing.”
Trump Says Biden Might Be Convicted Felon ‘as Soon as He Gets Out of Office’
In a remark that some quickly perceived as a threat, Trump suggested that Biden could just as easily become a convicted felon as he did.
“He could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office with all the things he’s done,” Trump said. “This man is a criminal. You’re lucky. You’re lucky. I did nothing wrong. We have a system that’s rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong.”
Biden said that he has done nothing comparable to what Trump has been indicted for, and asserted that presidents are not supposed to threaten retribution.
Biden’s Voice Is Particularly Weak Tonight
Within moments of taking the stage tonight, it was clear that Biden’s voice was especially soft. A source familiar now tells PEOPLE that he is sick with a cold.
