Whenever I have a dark moment or a depressed moment, I think about how my goal should be to outlive Donald Trump. At the very least, my immediate goal is to live to see him humiliated yet again, to see him lose yet another election. For everyone to laugh at the big orange loser and his tiny little hands. Hatred can fuel people to keep going just as much as love. President Jimmy Carter has a beautiful soul, and he is full of love for his family, his country and Democrats in general. I am not saying that Jimmy Carter is fueled with hate. But he is trying to live long enough to vote for Kamala Harris and watch Donald Trump’s tears streak down his ugly orange face.
Jimmy Carter is less than two months out from his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, but loved ones say his sights are set on reaching a different milestone: voting Kamala Harris for president.
Jimmy has been in hospice care for a year and a half, and though his condition has not dramatically changed since February 2023, his grandson Jason Carter told Southern Living in June that the family’s 99-year-old patriarch was “no longer awake every day.” Two months later, however, Jason is sharing a more optimistic health update about the 39th U.S. president.
While promoting an upcoming tribute concert for his grandfather’s birthday, Jason told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Jimmy has been “more alert and interested in politics and the war in Gaza” in recent days.
Jason previously said that his grandfather has good days and bad days, and that it is often hard to predict what state he will be in when family stops in for visits.
When Jimmy’s son Chip Carter asked him this week whether he wants to live to see his 100th birthday, the former president responded, “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” according to Jason.
Though the 2024 presidential election is still three months away, the former president wouldn’t have to wait until Nov. 5 to cast his ballot. Early voting in Georgia begins on Oct. 15, and absentee ballots are sent out up to 29 days before the election. Georgia does not have any laws barring a ballot from being counted if someone dies between the early voting period and Election Day.
That’s sort of nasty work from People Magazine, to suggest that Carter would only have to make it to early or mid-October. Granted, I was curious about Georgia laws too, but there you go. Whenever Carter’s name trends on social media, I brace myself for bad news. But it’s always like “Jimmy Carter can’t wait to vote for Kamala Harris” or “Jimmy Carter is doing great!” Such a blessed soul. I pray he makes it long enough to vote for Kamala Harris too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Former President Jimmy Carter at a book signing for his new book ”Faith: A Journey For All” at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. New York City, New York – Monday March 26, 2018.,Image: 509623752, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dennis Van Tine / Avalon
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- Former President Jimmy Carter at a book signing for his new book ”Faith: A Journey For All” at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. New York City, New York – Monday March 26, 2018.,Image: 509623801, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dennis Van Tine / Avalon
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- Jimmy Carter at in-store appearance for Jimmy Carter Book Signing for ‘A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety’, Barnes and Noble Book Store, New York, NY July 7, 2015,Image: 515794469, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dennis Van Tine / Avalon
❤️🩹
I hope he lives long enough to see her inaugurated.
Same ♥️
🙏🏼🤞🏼… I sure hope he sees her elected.
That would be so awesome. 💙
This! ⬆️
While being able to vote for Kamala would be great, seeing her actually being sworn in is something quite a few very old people that I know are looking forward to.
Keeping my fingers crossed for Jimmy Carter to be able to watch the inauguration.
🌊💙🌊
❤️
Sending love to Jimmy. Hope he makes it.
Ditto.
Praying for you Mr Carter
This is a serious question, his kids and grandkids have repeatedly said he isn’t very lucid, it could be any day now, he has many days of not being conscious..can he actually vote? I mean legally.
I’m an election worker in Texas. While I don’t know the laws in Georgia I’m guessing they are similar to our’s.
In Texas, a person can have assistance in voting. An election worker can assist or the voter can bring someone to assist them. That assistant must formally sign an affidavit stating they will not influence the voter and they will only record the votes the voter authorizes.
I’ve helped people who weren’t cogent enough to drive or do routine things. I carefully explained the voting process and asked if they understood. If they say yes I have to accept it. I then establish how they want me to identify the candidate (by name, by party, by party color) When we are selecting candidates I use terminology they can understand so they can tell me which person to vote for.
In 2008 my dad was having cognitive diminishment but still understood voting and he knew he wanted to vote for Obama and straight blue down ballot (that was the first time Dad ever voted for Democrats!). Because of his vision issues (we still used paper ballots with smol print) and his cognitive issues (wasn’t sure how to fill out the ballot) I helped him vote as per his wishes.
So as long as Jimmy can make his voting preferences known then someone can fill out the ballot, in his presence, with those voting preferences.
Trump isn’t lucid all the time and is legally running. If you are declared mentally incompetent and are under a guardianship you can’t vote in some states.
Since he has clearly stated his desire to vote for the vice president, why would there be any question about the legality of his vote? As stated by BLUENAILSBETTY above, most states allow assistance if a voter has a disability which prevents them from doing it themselves. Let’s all send positive thoughts the former president’s way.
I hope we all live long enough to vote for Kamala Harris. HOW is Trump actually in the running, and how are so many people are not just okay but down with him being a traitorous pig-ignorant orange criminal? This awful farce makes what happened in Nazi Germany so much more understandable, because sane people really can’t believe that it’s happening, and it’s hard to fight a danger that seems so WEIRD. And silly. But it’s f-ing serious, people.
Agnes, the whole Europe, including countries that lost people to the Nazis are now buying into the same rhetorics. It is a well oiled machine at this point. If the US fails, everyone’s doomed.
I know. It is a well oiled disinfo op started by whom? Russian? SPECTRE? Jeez, the bad guys are really laying it on thick.
Money has to come from somewhere. Is it one country or several? We really have no idea. I truly believe that the rise of evil will slow down if the US puts the stop to it.
The only thing that scares me is whether all the money could lead to real election steal.
It’s truly a cult. Trump makes his supporters feel seen and special. They believe they have a personal relationship with him. That and along with the grifter aspects bonds them to him. This Guardian article sheds some insight on their thought processes:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/03/trump-maga-suporters-explain-republican
It’s a cult, but who’s really behind it? Trump’s just the front man. I suspect that tiny gargoyle Putin is the real puppetmaster.
Thank you for posting this link to the Guardian article. It’s the first that I’ve read that helps me to really understand what draws at least some of Trump’s voters to him.
I was startled by the comments from people — especially Antwon Williams — who seemed completely unable to view Trump as a racist. I wonder how Williams, in particular, understands Trump’s full page ads advocating for the death penalty for 5 Black and brown teens who had yet to have a trial — who were later exonerated. That’s even harder to explain than Trump’s years of actively refusing to rent to POC. I guess some of it is as simple as some of these people believing and wanting to believe what Trump is selling them.
I truly hope that Jimmy Carter gets his wish. He is such a decent man, with such a beautiful spirit.
Certain hard right religious groups have been targeted since he ran the first time. Believers have been told that God is using DJT in some big master plan to “restore America” to its “Christian heritage.” (With a little yummy side dish of “Our country was better when white people were in charge.”) It’s well-financed and highly organized. They have a travelling road show. They have ZOOM meetings. They train pastors. Many of its leaders are deeply involved in Project 2025. It’s not wrong to call it a cult. thecouragetour
Sadly Agnes, human history unfortunately shows us time and time again that there are always those who are motivated by anger, cruelty, bigotry and blatant self-interest (whether thirsting for power, riches, physical gratification, etc etc) WAY beyond Maslow’s hierarchy of needs stuff.
They wrap themselves up in whatever they need to get it (religion, nationalism, stolen valor). And they become skilled at using lies, threats, bombast, whatever might, power, wealth and platforms they can find to play on other people’s fears, bigotry, frustrations, cruel impulses, tribalism, and short term thinking. It cascades as individuals, political groups, corporations, governments go along “just this once” or “just in this limited way” for “reasons”. (So many examples of this big and small, but two – Mainstream Media giving Trump and his flying monkeys airtime, soft coverage, promoting the most outrageous stuff for clicks and profits since 2015 and the RNC and GOP leadership doing the same in a grasp for power and money, in direct opposition of democracy, the law, life, human rights, are a big reason we are where we are today. Actually it goes further back, with Murdoch, Reagan, Rove, Gingrich, the “Moral Majority” doing the same decades ago )
And once you’ve got a loud mob riled up, with a loud bully aiming them at whatever “other” the bully wants to destroy or use as a distraction (for crimes done in the shadows), voices of reason tend get drowned out, driven out or destroyed.
Whether it’s Hitler or today’s authoritarians, fascists in power the story is the same. And once they have control it’s hard to turn back without enormous effort and suffering.
But we’ve got a chance to do so now, if we work hard, don’t get apathetic or assume someone else can do it for us, and stand up to cruelty, lies, people trying to play on our fears to desires, support the free press and journalism, turn away from clickbait and bullies, work to protect voting rights, elections, and non-fascist candidates. Including imperfect ones (don’t let purity tests and perfection be the enemy of progress and upholding democracy and the Constitution (or equivalents wherever we are in the world, the Rule of Law, human rights for all.)
North of Boston, yep, that’s the scariest part, most people are just in the “coasting” mode, trying to get thru the next workday or pool party or whatever, taking the safe underlying structures of America for granted. We’re not even remotely in “fight” mode, even though a lot of normally apolitical people are waking up to the fact that we need to be. Bad actors in the shadows have spent decades creating a Trump, the ultimate worm in the apple. If he wins we are even more ridiculous than previously thought possible, and that’s saying a lot. He doesn’t even have a message other than gobbledegook.
@North of Boston well said.
I hope he lives long enough to vote for Kamala. He is a really nice person.
I felt the opening of this article. It sucker punched me in the chest.
I remember my dark days, I was trying to live to see my daughter’s 18th birthday. It was hard, I was so low and trying so hard to hide it. I’ve only 1 child so I got a puppy so she’d have emotional support when I was gone, the puppy changed everything. Slowly I started living again. I’m now a grandmother and life is good. Having something to live for when all you want to do is depart is everything. Kaiser I hope your dark days are few and far between 💕💕💕
🫂 Ali 🫂
You brought tears to my eyes, Ali. I’m glad you made it and are able to have had tons more time with your loved ones!
I hope above all that Jimmy Carter is comfortable and out of pain and knows he’s surrounded by love. He did so much for us and was building homes for HfH well into his 90s. It would be wonderful if he were granted his wish to vote one last time.
Ali so sorry you went through that.
And so glad for you that love saw you through those hard times.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Hugs and love to you and everyone else who has faced (or is facing) struggles like that.
@Ali: much love & thank you for sharing. 🥹. @Kaiser: hang in there, kid! 🙏
I love and admire Jimmy Carter. Have since he was running for and then elected President. Have followed what he has done and applauded him. He is a person whose kindness and compassion benefitted so many.
I do understand what you are thinking and hoping for, Mr Carter. And I’m sending prayers that your life affirming dream comes true.
This, exactly!
He’s such an example of someone with a moral throughline, someone who tried to hold onto his values, do the “right” thing in difficult times the best he could, even it meant losing political power.
His compassion, and his and Rosalyn Carter’s work to provide decent housing, clean drinking water, uphold fair elections worldwide, fighting disease (eg what’s gone on with Guinea Worm Disease, down from > 3.5 million cases per year to under 15 last year) have helped reduce poverty, suffering, death and serve as an example.
I love that even a 99, he’s still looking forward, with hope, with a sense of agency and responsibly for making the future safer, better, more just. That he can still do his part, and with such a simple act – voting – that (for now) is available to almost all of us.
He was the first president I ever voted for. What an honorable, good human being. The Carters exemplify human kindness & service. The trumps are just a perversion of a presidential couple.
Me too. 1976, I was 20 and proudly voted for him. What a great man and a the true definition of Christian.
Just think about how James Earl Carter is outliving all of his haters if you’re ever having a bad day. And still able to vote against them!
The war in Gaza must be such a Personal heartbreak for him. He worked so hard on that Peace Plan.
I hope he gets his wish. I would feel the same way in his position! Also, we need all the GA votes we can get.
I saw a story this week about Kamala’s cookbooks—she has the Grenfell one that Meghan worked on. I’m sure the Fail will do a story!
I dearly hope that he’s able to hold on until then. I’m afraid that this may be more a case of terminal lucidity. People often perk up and seem “back to their old selves” right before the end. It can be a blessing and an opportunity to have those last conversations, but it can also be so cruelly deceptive for loved ones. I hope he’s able to accomplish this one last good deed but I don’t think it’s likely.
Wow …. People need to hear positive not the glass half empty …I’m praying that Jimmy Carter DOES stay healthy and alert to make it to Election Day and after … after years of having Trump shoved down our throats we have hope ! I am absolutely thrilled to have Kamala as President of our United States …. America doesn’t have to be great again – it always was … border is proof of that …
He’s such a beautiful soul. Love to see how revered he has become to folks as it wasn’t always that way.
I took my 90 y.o. grandma for early voting in MO last week & girlie is fired ALL the way up. She hates Josh Hawley & 45 with the passion of 1000 burning suns.
God bless this kind and generous man. He has lived an exemplary life, dedicating himself to helping others. There couldn’t be a more vast difference in two men than that between Jimmy Carter and Trump.
These are such thoughtful sentiments. If you would like to share them, the Carter Center is asking for messages from the public to be made into a digital mosaic. They will be displayed at a musical celebration in September. They can be sent to CarterCenter.org/JimmyCarter100. He is another humanistic leader and a man of pure faith. He has made our world a better place!
I hope it happens. I was bummed one of his family members kept saying the end was near. It wasn’t his place to say something like that about a former President.
I want him to live to vote for her.
Praying that President Carter gets his final wish 🙏🏼
I would love to know what an alternate timeline looks like where Carter beat Reagan.
I think about that very often. You hang in there President Carter! 💗
Why is whether or not to count a ballot of a person cast it before he died even an issue? Obviously if it is discovered that a “person” voted after he had died, it would be fraud on someone’s part and such a ballot would not be counted.
He seems like such a kind soul. I was born at the end of the Reagan era (I know! But I was a baby!) And I feel like Jimmy Carter really took a lot of crap and got the short stick during his presidency. (I could be wrong. I admit). I’m in TN and I’ve already told friends and family to get their finest pink ensemble ready to early vote on 10/16. I already derive immense joy from loudly declaring I want the Democratic ballot when I go to vote and it is 1000000x more exciting this time. LETS GOOOOOOO and hopes for health for former President Carter!!!
I pray that his birthday wish comes true 🙏
I have always loved Jimmy Carter and find him seriously underrated as a president in the U.S. Europeans appreciate him more and his post-presidential work has been stellar and ground-breaking. God bless Jimmy Carter. What a good, good man.