Jimmy Carter is baffled by Trump's lies


President Trump has made 2,369 false statements as president as of Tuesday, per The Toronto Star's count. Former President Jimmy Carter thinks he never "deliberately" made any while he was in office.
In a segment of a CBS This Morning interview that aired Tuesday, the former president discussed building houses for Habitat for Humanity — and the current president's untrustworthy track record. While Carter gently reminded viewers that he was "not here to criticize the president," he did have some strong words for Trump's "deplorable" disregard for the truth.
Telling the truth is "pretty deeply ingrained," Carter said of himself. "I think I went through my campaign and my presidency without ever lying to the people or making a deliberately false statement," which makes it "even more deplorable" that President Trump has "abandoned" the virtue. But Carter prefers to pray for the president rather than criticize him, saying he hopes "America will learn from its mistakes" and eventually "elect the best person."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In another snippet of the interview, Carter heaped praise on the late Sen. John McCain for his "commitment to the truth," showing how strongly Carter believes that honesty is the best policy. Watch Carter don a construction hat and discuss the president on CBS This Morning below. Kathryn Krawczyk
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Political cartoons for October 18
Cartoons Saturday's editorial cartoons include conversion therapy, Russ Vought, and more
-
President Trump: ‘waging war’ on Chicago
Talking Point Federal agents are carrying out ‘increasingly aggressive’ immigration raids – but have sanctuary cities like Chicago brought it on themselves?
-
Crossword: October 18, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified files
Speed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
Trump, Putin set summit as Zelenskyy lands in DC
Speed Read Trump and Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
-
Courts deal setbacks to Trump’s Chicago operations
Speed Read President Donald Trump cannot deploy the National Guard in Illinois
-
‘The illusion of wealth can encourage people to take on more debt’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Pentagon reporters turn in badges after refusing rules
Speed Read They refused to sign a restrictive new press policy imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
-
Supreme Court points to gutting Voting Rights Act
speed read States would no longer be required to consider race when drawing congressional maps
-
Trump says he authorized covert CIA ops in Venezuela
Speed Read He is also considering military strikes inside the country
-
Are inflatable costumes and naked bike rides helping or hurting ICE protests?
Talking Points Trump administration efforts to portray Portland and Chicago as dystopian war zones have been met with dancing frogs, bare butts and a growing movement to mock MAGA doomsaying