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The Presidency, Donald Trump
Trump to Attend President Carter’s Funeral — Why?
At his “magnificent” New Year’s celebration at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump told reporters he will attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9. I wish the Carter family would respond by saying, “Thanks, but no thanks,” given the abuse Trump has heaped on Carter in the last dozen years.
I read one of President-Elect Trump’s social media posts made shortly after Jimmy Carter died last week — the post that referenced the “exclusive club” of people who have served as president. I found the suggestion that, as a former and future president, Trump can somehow understand the demands of the presidency offensive.
Trump is presumptuous in granting himself admission to the “exclusive club” of presidents. He is not a typical or, in my view, a legitimate president. He lost the right to grant himself membership to that club on January 6, 2021.
If all America’s 44 former presidents not named Trump were alive, I doubt more than one or two of them might consider Trump a respectable colleague. (I’m thinking about Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson as possible exceptions.) The other presidents…