Donald Trump has shifted his tone on former President Jimmy Carter, whom he once sharply criticized.
This combination of photos taken at the White House in Washington shows President Jimmy Carter, Nov. 3, 1980, left, and President Donald Trump, July 13, 2026.
FILE - President Jimmy Carter calls for a question during a nationally televised news conference in the East Room of White House in Washington, April 10, 1980. FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk Eastern England, July 8, 2026.
FILE - President Jimmy Carter prepares to make a national television address from the Oval Office at the White House, April 25, 1980, in Washington, on the failed mission to rescue the Iran hostages. FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, July 16, 2026, in Washington.
This combination of photos taken at the White House in Washington shows President Jimmy Carter, Nov. 3, 1980, left, and President Donald Trump, July 13, 2026. But lately, Trump’s sentiments on the 39th president have become more wistful as he faces some of the same challenges the late Carter did. The comparison seems to be on Trump’s mind, too.
Asked last month why he didn’t dispatch U.S. Special Forces into Iran to forcibly remove itsThat recalled the failed 1980 raid to free U.S. hostages that killed eight American servicemen. Trump also said in March that the unsuccessful mission “cost them the election" against Ronald Reagan in 1980, sounding cognizant of political realities in a way he didn't when using Carter as a punchline.
The shift in tone coincides with Trump's increased focus on his personal legacy and comes as the parallels between the two presidents become harder to ignore.
“I think it is dawning on him — it’s getting through even his thick skull — that he’s kicked over a hornet’s nest and his presidency might be remembered for some of the same things Jimmy Carter’s presidency is,” said Jonathan Alter, author of “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life. ”Asked about Trump's change in tone on Carter and the two facing overlapping challenges, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said, “Trump will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon” and “remains laser-focused on implementing his proven economic agenda to lower costs.
” “The president is a one-of-a-kind leader who will always unapologetically advance America’s interests," Wales said in a statement.
"The only legacy he is concerned with is making America greater than ever before. ” Kori Schake, a former member of George W. Bush’s National Security Council, said she doesn't think Trump is reassessing Carter.
“He doesn’t stitch facts together and create theories," she said. “the worst” president who made Carter look “brilliant” by comparison. Trump still frequently mentions Carter, who died two years ago at age 100, but usually to incorrectly suggest that he was wary of mail-in ballots. Carter was married to his wife, Rosalynn, for 77 years, was deeply religious and pledged to “never knowingly lie to the American people.
” Trump is twice divorced, relishes cursing publicly and offers a never-ending onslaught of As president, Carter placed his family's peanut business in a blind trust. Control of the Trump Organization has transferred to Trump's sons, but the presidentCarter also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Trump hasn't, despite declaring himself more deserving than any of the award's past recipients.
While inflation plagued both presidents, Carter had it much worse, facing a peak inflation rate of 14.7% in April 1980. Consumer pricesshrugged off inflation concerns . But resolution has proved tricky and U.S. attacks have intensified anew after Iran's attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Like Trump, Carter was also bedeviled by the strait, declaring during his 1980 State of the Union address that the situation “demands the participation of all those who rely on oil from the Middle East and who are concerned with global peace and stability. ”, though he ultimately decided against it so as not to jeopardize the hostages.
Trump targeted the island with U.S. strikes early in the war, looking to thwart Iranian oil exports, and has Schake, a senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, noted a key difference was “while the Carter administration gave serious consideration to attacking Kharg Island, the reason they didn’t do it was they didn’t want to be at war with Iran.
"Alter said Iran tried to hurt Carter's reelection chances and raised the possibility that they may do the same to Trump's Republican Party ahead of the November “These people are master diplomats, and they proved that during the Carter administration," Alter said. "They’re proving that again. They’re really good at rope-a-dope. ”as a “great he-man.
” Trump said a key reason for reaching the now-imperiled June ceasefire with Iran was to avoid theWalk of Fame” he installed along the White House Colonnade “Trump is thinking of his legacy, and he might have thought that attacking Iran would have enhanced it. But, in fact, it will seriously hurt,” James P. Pfiffner, a professor emeritus at George Mason University and author of several books including “The Character Factor: How We Judge Our Presidents,” said via email.
After his presidency, Alter said, Carter asked Trump for a donation to help build Carter's presidential library. Trump later wrote that Carter wanted $5 million, but he didn't answer him.
Then, during Trump's first term, Carter wrote the president a letter and Trump called to thank him, eventually leaving Carter with the impression that he might serve as a special envoy to China — an offer that never actually materialized.
“If he had learned anything from Carter’s experience — and listened to predictions about the Strait of Hormuz — he would have hesitated," Pfiffner said of war with Iran. “But he ignored lessons of history and geography. ”Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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