Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump: The Humane Moralist vs the Confirmed Sinner
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
In addition to the numerous obituaries of Jimmy Carter, comparisons between Carter and Donald Trump should be made. There are many, but a few of the most obvious are small time Southern farmer vs hereditary New York real estate baron, Naval Academy graduate and military serviceman vs dubious business school graduate and draft dodger, strong religious believer vs. upside down Bible holder, married to high school sweetheart for 77 years vs unrepentant sexist philanderer, modest peanut ranch vs. Mar-a-Lago. In sum, one had great moral character, the other has none of the characteristics one could possibly describe as morally positive. The fundamental question, therefore, in comparing the two is whether moral character makes any difference in a president or any politician. To note, Carter was defeated for re-election, Trump has been elected twice.
When the question of presidential character comes up, most historians cite a short prayer President John Adams wrote to his wife in 1800 when he moved into the White House; “I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House, and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.” Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy had the prayer engraved in mantels in the White House; in her memoir, Hillary Clinton said she hoped the prayer would include women as well.
What does presidential character include? When starting his presidential campaign, Carter declared; “I’m Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president. I will never lie to you.” He also promised; “I don’t think I would ever take on the same frame of mind that Nixon or Johnson did—lying, cheating and distorting the truth. I think my religious beliefs alone would prevent that from happening.”
Whether or not he totally followed that promise, on two occasions his forthrightness got him in trouble. The first was during a 1976 Playboy magazine interview; “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust,” he confessed. “I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do and God forgives me for it.” A most human response from a devout Christian.
The second difficulty occurred with his famous “malaise” speech. When addressing the country in 1979 from the Oval Office, Carter questioned the country’s crisis of confidence and the reasons behind it. He criticized American materialism, encouraging his listeners to reflect on human identity beyond simple consumerism.
At the start of 2025, the speech still resonates some forty years later, well past the then long gas lines, inflation and recession:
So, I want to speak to you first tonight about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy… It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.
The Playboy interview and the “malaise” speech were highly criticized and cost Carter significant popularity in polls. But they were Jimmy Carter being Jimmy Carter, directly saying what he felt he had to be said despite the consequences.
Compare Carter’s honesty with Donald Trump. The Washington Post calculated that Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his four years in office. Recently, Daniel Dale of CNN reported that “Former President Donald Trump is on a lying spree” during the run up to the November 5 election. “We went through the speeches Trump made at his two Wednesday campaign rallies in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, one in Scranton and one in Reading,” Dale wrote. “In those two addresses alone, he uttered at least 40 separate false claims.” Forty false claims in only two speeches. 30,573 false or misleading claims in four years as president; this from the man who will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on January 20, 2025.
During his presidency, Jimmy Carter was faulted for being too moralistic. Critics said the Baptist Sunday school teacher was too concerned with peace, human rights and desegregation to deal with the below-the-belt politics of the Beltway and beyond. Unable to work the halls of Congress with the manipulative skills of a Lyndon Johnson, historians have judged Jimmy Carter as a mediocre president at best. The current outpouring of admiration for Carter focuses on his post-presidency, not on his four years in office.
The Trump era should cause reflection about presidents being too moralistic. Trump’s Oval Office was and will soon become a Transactional Center – a place where the only question is “What’s in this for me?” (Trump’s “America First” is really “Trump First.”) Issues about right and wrong, human identity and global cooperation for planetary welfare are beyond Trump’s and Elon Musk’s obsession with dollars-and-cents and their own pockets.
Carter’s “malaise” speech was spot on and bears repeating: “We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation,” he said on national television after spending 10 days with a wide range of citizens at Camp David to discuss what was wrong with America. “The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America,” Carter observed presciently on prime time.
Carter, the humane moralist, the passionate Christian, was mocked at the time for being overly pious. In a review of the “malaise” speech, Gal Beckerman in The Atlantic called him “a moralizing man and a weak leader, a pessimist who was pointing an accusing finger at Americans,” As we prepare for Donald Trump’s second presidency, we can only hope that a small part of Carter’s humane morality will creep into the White House. The U.S. does not need an Evangelical Christian, an Orthodox Jew or a devoted Muslim as its leader; it simply needs someone with a strong moral compass. Carter’s ethical sensitivity is his greatest legacy. Even superficial comparisons between Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump show how much that criticized ethical sensitivity is missing today.
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