{"id":139667,"date":"2026-07-18T08:24:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-shifts-his-tone-on-jimmy-carter-while-grappling-with-iran-inflation-and-his-own-legacy\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T08:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:37:22","slug":"trump-shifts-his-tone-on-jimmy-carter-while-grappling-with-iran-inflation-and-his-own-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-shifts-his-tone-on-jimmy-carter-while-grappling-with-iran-inflation-and-his-own-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump shifts his tone on Jimmy Carter while grappling with Iran, inflation and his own legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This
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. (AP Photo)<\/span>(AP Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Carter<\/a> used to be one of President Donald Trump<\/a> \u2019s favorite political targets, a catchall foil<\/a> for feckless Democrats that he could jeer at to make himself look strong and decisive.<\/p>\n

But lately, Trump\u2019s sentiments on the 39th president have become more wistful as he faces some of the same challenges the late Carter did.<\/p>\n

Those include the war in Iran<\/a> with no end in sight \u2014 and now escalating as the U.S. moves to control the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> \u2014 and inflation,<\/a> a drag on the economy Trump hasn’t tamed despite long insisting that his business background would wipe it out.<\/p>\n

The comparison seems to be on Trump\u2019s mind, too. Asked last month why he didn\u2019t dispatch U.S. Special Forces into Iran to forcibly remove its enriched uranium<\/a>, he responded, \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like being Jimmy Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n

That recalled the failed 1980 raid to free U.S. hostages that killed eight American servicemen. Trump also said in March that the unsuccessful mission \u201ccost 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is dawning on him \u2014 it\u2019s getting through even his thick skull \u2014 that he\u2019s kicked over a hornet\u2019s nest and his presidency might be remembered for some of the same things Jimmy Carter\u2019s presidency is,\u201d said Jonathan Alter, author of \u201cHis Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite some similarities, the two had glaring differences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asked about Trump’s change in tone on Carter and the two facing overlapping challenges, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said, \u201cTrump will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon\u201d and \u201cremains laser-focused on implementing his proven economic agenda to lower costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president is a one-of-a-kind leader who will always unapologetically advance America\u2019s interests,” Wales said in a statement. “The only legacy he is concerned with is making America greater than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kori Schake, a former member of George W. Bush\u2019s National Security Council, said she doesn’t think Trump is reassessing Carter. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t stitch facts together and create theories,” she said.<\/p>\n

Still, Trump’s more recent comments are a long way from his 2024 reelection campaign, when he routinely called Joe Biden<\/a> \u201cthe worst\u201d president who made Carter look \u201cbrilliant\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Other disparities between the two are legion.<\/p>\n

Carter was married to his wife, Rosalynn, for 77 years, was deeply religious and pledged to \u201cnever knowingly lie to the American people.\u201d Trump is twice divorced, relishes cursing publicly and offers a never-ending onslaught of falsehoods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 president took in nearly $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses<\/a> last year while not being shy about turning his presidency into a major source of personal benefit<\/a> in other ways.<\/p>\n

Speaking in 1977, Carter declared, \u201cWe are now free of that inordinate fear of communism.\u201d Trump has seized on primary wins<\/a> by progressive Democrats to constantly stoke new fears about communism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carter also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Trump hasn’t, despite declaring himself more deserving than any of the award’s past recipients.<\/p>\n

The two have inflation and Iran in common <\/strong><\/p>\n

While inflation plagued both presidents, Carter had it much worse, facing a peak inflation rate of 14.7% in April 1980. Consumer prices rose 4.2%<\/a> this May from a year earlier \u2014 a three-year high \u2014 and though they fell sharpl<\/a> y from May to June, that decline included lower gas prices fueled by a U.S.-Iran ceasefire. That deal is now in tatters<\/a>, driving up oil prices again.<\/p>\n

Trump suggested he didn’t think about Americans’ financial woes when it comes to Iran<\/a>, a war he started in conjunction with Israel in February. More recently, he shrugged off inflation concerns<\/a>. But resolution has proved tricky and U.S. attacks have intensified anew after Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Like Trump, Carter was also bedeviled by the strait, declaring during his 1980 State of the Union address that the situation \u201cdemands the participation of all those who rely on oil from the Middle East and who are concerned with global peace and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Trump-Carter parallel was the Democrat having considered military action to seize Kharg Island<\/a>, 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 threatened it again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Schake, a senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, noted a key difference was \u201cwhile the Carter administration gave serious consideration to attacking Kharg Island, the reason they didn\u2019t do it was they didn\u2019t want to be at war with Iran.”<\/p>\n

“And we\u2019re already at war with Iran,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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 midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are master diplomats, and they proved that during the Carter administration,” Alter said. “They\u2019re proving that again. They\u2019re really good at rope-a-dope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump now talks up presidential history<\/strong><\/p>\n

The president has lately name-checked many of his predecessors, praising William McKinley<\/a> ‘s support for tariffs<\/a> and Teddy Roosevelt<\/a> as a \u201cgreat he-man.\u201d Trump said a key reason for reaching the now-imperiled June ceasefire with Iran was to avoid the \u201ceconomic catastrophe<\/a> ” that befell Herbert Hoover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a student of a lot of history,\u201d Trump said this week.<\/p>\n

During his first term, Trump frequently compared his own populist streak to Andrew Jackson’s.<\/a> He still praises Jackson but has more recently extolled many past presidential records<\/a>, including those of Democrats like Franklin Delano Roosevelt.<\/p>\n

Trump even listed some of Carter’s accomplishments on the \u201c Walk of Fame\u201d he installed along the White House Colonnade<\/a> despite displays for other Democrats, such as Barack Obama and Biden, offering biting attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump is thinking of his legacy, and he might have thought that attacking Iran would have enhanced it. But, in fact, it will seriously hurt,\u201d James P. Pfiffner, a professor emeritus at George Mason University and author of several books including \u201cThe Character Factor: How We Judge Our Presidents,\u201d said via email.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 an offer that never actually materialized.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he had learned anything from Carter\u2019s experience \u2014 and listened to predictions about the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 he would have hesitated,” Pfiffner said of war with Iran. \u201cBut he ignored lessons of history and geography.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been updated to CORRECT the spelling of the Carter biographer to Jonathan Alter.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
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. (AP Photo\/Dennis Cook, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Dennis Cook, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
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. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
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. (AP Photo, File)<\/span>(AP Photo, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. (AP Photo)(AP Photo) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Carter used to be one of President Donald Trump \u2019s favorite political targets, a catchall foil for feckless Democrats that he could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139672,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139667\/revisions\/139672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139667"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}