We all know the establishment media narrative: whatever his faults, Old Joe Biden is an affable, decent, all-around good fellow, while Donald Trump is arrogant, mean, nasty, and corrupt. This is not true and was never true of either man, and on Sunday, their reactions to the death of their predecessor Jimmy Carter once again showed the truth about each of them.
Trump, displaying the genuine decency that won him the respect and affection of so many Americans over the last eight years, wrote gracious words about Carter and his disastrous presidency:
I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History.
The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.
Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter Family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers.
Trump added:
President Jimmy Carter is dead at 100 years of age. 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. He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office. Warmest condolences from Melania and I to his wonderful family!
In stark contrast to this, Biden made his statement about Carter all about two people who weren’t necessary to involve at all: himself and Donald Trump. Even when he praised Carter and echoed the general exaggerated praise for the late president’s fundamental decency, Biden couldn’t help but be self-aggrandizing and indulge his longstanding habit of putting himself in the center of every situation with yet another tall tale.
Speaking from St. Croix, where he is (you guessed it) once again on vacation, Old Joe said: “I'll always be proud to say that — he used to kid me about it — that I was the first national figure to endorse him in 1976 when he ran for president. And there was an overwhelming reason for it: his character." Was Biden really the first national figure to endorse Carter for president? Maybe, but this story sounds suspiciously like so many others in which Old Joe puts himself in the middle of history: he has lied about getting arrested agitating for civil rights, getting arrested trying to visit Nelson Mandela in prison, and so very much more.
And Biden wasn’t finished. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a jab at Trump, saying: “Decency, decency, decency... Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking by someone who needed something and just keep [sic] walking? Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way they look or the way they talk?" Coming from a man who used his son as a bag man in selling influence and access to foreign entities, and who weaponized the justice system against his opponent, calls for decency ring more than a little bit hollow.
Related: It’s Too Bad That Jimmy Carter Didn’t Live Even Longer
To be sure, the Biden-Harris regime issued a pro forma and no doubt ghostwritten statement extolling Carter’s supposed virtues and refraining from either touting his own importance or hitting at his predecessor and elected successor. That’s fine, but Old Joe’s off-the-cuff remarks in St. Croix, when compared to Trump’s own off-the-cuff statements on Truth Social, reveal the true character of each man. Trump managed to be gracious and magnanimous to a man who is responsible for a good deal of the mess he is promising to clean up, without taking the opportunity to criticize Old Joe or anyone else or attempt to magnify his own importance. Biden, on the other hand, behaved the way he always does.
The establishment media spin will spin on unchanged, but Americans who are paying attention know which of these men, for all of his faults, is really the decent one.
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