So much of Donald Trump’s worldview came together in the 1970s, when turmoil in the Middle East sparked an energy crisis around the world and an economic malaise at home set in motion a political realignment that punished those in power.
“He’s a nice man. He was a terrible President,” Trump said of Carter in 2019. “He’s been trashed within his own party. He’s been trashed.”
It’s not a comparison Trump would find particularly comforting. After all, Trump continued to harp on Carter’s as a failed presidency even in the months after his death.
For his part, Carter was no Trump fan but he nevertheless extended grace to his successor, praising Trump in his first term for calling off a planned retaliatory strike against Iran in 2019. "I agree with President Trump on his decision not to take military action against Iran," Carter said in the days that followed Trump’s restraint. "I had a lot of problems with Iran when I was in office."
These days, Trump has handled that question differently. The Pentagon has ordered 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the region, as Trump signaled he wants total domination of that nation.
Carter always viewed that very approach as disastrous, even if it might have helped him politically. “I could have been reelected if I’d taken military action against Iran, shown that I was strong and resolute and manly,” Carter said in 2014, three decades after he left the White House. But the costs—particularly the deaths of scores of innocent people—were not worth it, he determined.
In Carter’s day, the Soviets were the bad actors in that chokepoint for barrels of oil. Moscow backed Tehran, where Americans were held hostage and the world’s energy markets were under similar assault. Although some in Carter’s circle—notably national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski—favored military action and seizing Kharg Island, restraint won the day. “We have Kharg Island and they have the hostages,” Carter’s press secretary argued.
“This situation demands careful thought, steady nerves, and resolute action,” Carter said. “It demands the participation of all those who rely on oil from the Middle East and who are concerned with global peace and stability. And it demands consultation and close cooperation with countries in the area which might be threatened."
Carter led with cautious diplomacy while Trump offered munitions as motivation.
Trump can brandish his own diplomatic deals in the Middle East such as his Abraham Accords and a pause to the larger war in Gaza. His Administration has also repeatedly claimed he’s ended multiple other wars in his second term that have been fact-checked to death. He openly campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s as if Trump is worried that, like Carter, his achievements toward peace will be overshadowed by his failure to curb Iran.
But objectively, Carter still laps Trump on some key measures. Nobel Peace Prize? Check. Better all-time-high poll numbers? Yep. Average Gallup standing? Yes, at least until Gallup stopped asking about Trump’s job approval last year.
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