When the news broke that Jimmy Carter had passed away at the age of 100, everyone sort of held their breath to see what Donald Trump would do. If you follow politics even a little, you know these two weren't exactly buddies. Trump spent a good chunk of his 2024 campaign using Carter as a punchline. He’d tell crowds that Joe Biden was so bad he actually made Jimmy Carter look "brilliant" by comparison. It was a classic Trump jab—funny to his supporters, but definitely a bit sharp considering Carter was in hospice at the time.
But when the 39th president actually died on December 29, 2024, the tone shifted. Well, mostly.
The Gracious Side of the Truth Social Posts
Right after the announcement, Trump took to Truth Social. Honestly, the first statement was surprisingly traditional. He called the presidency a "very exclusive club" and acknowledged the "enormous responsibility" that comes with it. He wrote that Jimmy Carter did everything in his power to improve the lives of Americans and said, "we all owe him a debt of gratitude."
It was the kind of thing you expect from a President-elect.
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About an hour later, he posted again. This one felt a bit more like the Trump we know. He admitted he "strongly disagreed" with Carter philosophically and politically, but he still called him a "truly good man." He even noted that Carter was "very consequential" after leaving the Oval Office. That’s a nod to Carter’s decades of work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center.
It’s interesting because Trump usually doesn’t give much ground to political opponents. Seeing him use words like "highest respect" felt like a rare moment of the "exclusive club" rules taking precedence over the usual campaign trail fire.
The Panama Canal and the "Disgrace"
Of course, the peace didn't last forever. By early January 2025, while Carter’s body was literally being flown to Washington to lie in state, Trump was back at it. During a talk at Mar-a-Lago, he brought up the Panama Canal.
For those who don't remember the history books, Carter signed the treaty that eventually gave control of the canal back to Panama. Trump called it a "disgrace" and said the Panamanians "laugh at us." When reporters asked if it was really the right time to criticize Carter—you know, since he just died—Trump tried to have it both ways. He said, "I liked him as a man," but then immediately went back to complaining about the canal.
It was a classic example of the Trump comments on Jimmy Carter death dynamic: a mix of personal respect and total policy rejection.
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Why the 1980s Matter So Much Here
Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky pointed out something pretty smart about this. She noted that Trump’s worldview is really shaped by the 1980s. Back then, in the conservative world, Jimmy Carter was the ultimate symbol of a "failed" one-term president. To Trump, praising Carter’s politics would be like admitting his own "America First" style might be wrong. So, he separates the man from the map. He likes the "peanut farmer" from Georgia, but he hates the Democrat from the White House.
The Drama Over the Half-Staff Flags
Then there was the whole flag situation. This got kind of weird.
By law and tradition, when a former president dies, flags stay at half-staff for 30 days. Because Carter died at the end of December, that 30-day window overlapped perfectly with Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Trump wasn't thrilled. He posted on January 3rd that "nobody wants to see" the American flag at half-mast during an inauguration. He called it "the first time ever" something like this would happen (though historians might argue the point). It created this awkward tension between the mourning period for a centenarian humanitarian and the celebration of a new administration.
In the end, Speaker Mike Johnson stepped in. He basically said the flags at the Capitol would be at full-staff for the inauguration itself, effectively bypassing the 30-day mourning rule for the big day. It was a compromise that satisfied the base but felt a bit cold to those who viewed Carter as a moral compass for the country.
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"Died a Happy Man"
Even months later, Trump was still talking about it. In April 2025, during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, he dropped a line that went viral. He said Jimmy Carter "died a happy man."
Why?
According to Trump, it’s because Carter was no longer considered the "worst president in history"—Trump claimed Joe Biden had taken that title. It’s a bit of dark humor, or a mean-spirited jab, depending on who you ask. But it shows how the trump comments on jimmy carter death weren't just a one-time eulogy. They were part of a larger narrative he was building about his own return to power.
What We Can Learn From This
Watching this play out tells us a lot about how modern political legacies are built.
- Legacy is a weapon: Trump used Carter’s reputation to bash his current opponents.
- The "Club" is real: Despite the insults, Trump still showed up for the funeral rituals. He respects the office, even if he doesn't respect the person who held it before him.
- Fact vs. Feeling: While Carter’s family focused on his 77-year marriage to Rosalynn and his Nobel Peace Prize, Trump focused on the Panama Canal and inflation.
If you’re trying to make sense of all this, the best thing to do is look at the original statements on Truth Social from late December. They show a moment of genuine presidential decorum before the political machinery started back up. You can also compare the official White House proclamation from the Biden era with Trump's personal posts to see the massive gulf in how these two men viewed a century of American history.
Take a look at the Carter Center’s archives if you want the other side of the story—Jimmy Carter himself wasn't exactly quiet about his opinions on Trump, once calling him a "disaster" for human rights. It was a two-way street of disagreement right until the very end.
To get a full picture of the transition, read the official 2025 Inaugural Committee notes on the flag protocols. It’s a dry read, but it explains how the government actually handled the overlap between a state funeral and a presidential swearing-in.