Biden says Trump could learn ‘decency’ from Jimmy Carter in tribute address

Joe Biden said Donald Trump should learn “decency” from Jimmy Carter’s legacy, in remarks delivered hours after the former president’s death on Sunday at age 100.

Speaking to reporters during a family vacation in the US Virgin Islands, the outgoing US president drew sharp contrasts between Carter’s character and that of his predecessor Trump, who is set to take over a second term as commander-in-chief in January.

When asked if there was anything Trump could learn from Carter, Biden replied: “Decency. Decency. Decency.”

“Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking by someone who needed something and just keep walking?” Biden said. “Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way they look or the way they talk? I can’t.”

The outgoing president spoke for nine minutes about Carter, describing him as a humanitarian, personal friend and a “remarkable leader”. He emphasized how Carter’s values reflected on America’s global standing, noting that “the rest of the world looks to us. And he was worth looking to.”

Trump, who has had public disagreements with Carter in the past, struck a more measured tone in his response. The 45th and incoming 47th US president released two statements on Sunday praising Carter as “a truly good man” for whom he had the “highest respect” – and describing him as more consequential than most holders of the Oval Office.

“While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our country, and all it stands for,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.”

Trump’s response to Carter’s death was a striking U-turn from recent rhetoric. In October, on Carter’s 100th birthday, Trump was campaigning Waunakee, Wisconsin, and mocked the former president as “the happiest man” because Biden’s one-term presidency made Carter’s look “brilliant” in comparison.

The relationship between Carter and Trump had long been thorny and featured digs in both directions. In 2019, Carter suggested Russian interference had handed Trump his 2016 victory, a comment Trump would dismiss at a G20 summit by calling Carter a “nice man” but a “terrible president” and the “forgotten president”. Carter would later that year warn a second Trump term would spell “disaster” and cited old age as a factor.

Trump ultimately became the oldest person to be elected president when he defeated Kamala Harris in November’s election after losing to Biden in 2020.

In a post later on X, Biden continued his praise of Carter’s life work, which included a 2002 Nobel peace prize win for his work seeking peaceful resolutions to global conflicts, advancing human rights and democracy as well as promoting economic and social development.

The president said Carter “lived a life measured not by words, but by deeds” and “lifted people up, changed lives, and saved lives all over the globe”.

“Jimmy Carter stands as a model for what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose,” Biden said. “We could all do well to be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”