Former President Jimmy Carter made a remarkable claim during an event at the Carter Center in Leesburg, Virginia, on Friday, describing President Donald Trump as an illegitimate president who wouldn’t have won but for Russian interference on his behalf.
“I think the interference, although not yet quantified, if fully investigated, would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016,” the 94-year-old Carter said. “He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”
The panel moderator, historian Jon Meacham, asked Carter if that means he thinks Trump “is an illegitimate president.” Carter said he does.
“Based on what I just said, which I can’t retract, I would say yes,” Carter said, as the crowd responded with chuckles.
Carter’s position is a matter of opinion. There is no hard evidence that Trump wouldn’t have prevailed without Russian help.
But there’s no doubt that that help — which, according to the US intelligence community and special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, included digital propaganda and disinformation campaigns, the hacks of Democratic targets, and the ensuing WikiLeaks email dumps that were timed to do maximum damage to Hillary Clinton — helped Trump overcome a 3 million vote loss in the popular vote and win in the Electoral College.
Carter’s opinion, however — coming as it does from a former president — is a remarkable one. On Twitter, former Clinton administration Secretary of Labor Robert Reich described Carter’s comments as “stunning” and asked, “When has a former president ever accused a current president of being illegitimate?”
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/1146220423631331333
https://twitter.com/maddogpac/status/1146227832588316672
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1146197733134479365
https://twitter.com/KTVU/status/1146106346850250752
🤨🤨🤨
https://twitter.com/Kat4Obama/status/1146164469015310336
https://twitter.com/AFarray/status/1146155236140212224
The World Cup game
https://twitter.com/AFarray/status/1146163146115231744
https://twitter.com/ZerlinaMaxwell/status/1146147235899564033
Thread 🤨😠🤢🤮
https://twitter.com/TheKitchenista/status/1146132517201895425
https://twitter.com/Johngcole/status/1146158135176048640
Where 👏are👏the👏girls👏
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1146159106954334208
We will see……check the final printing…
HUGE CENSUS NEWS — the Government just advised that the decision has been made to print the the census questionnaire WITHOUT the citizenship question. We won.— Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson) July 2, 2019
Maybe someone has noticed that the oval office occupant has flipped his wig. I keep waiting for this to become an issue, Trump’s dementia.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1146103009065263105
https://twitter.com/kevinchlo/status/1145917204002562049
😠😠😠
https://twitter.com/PortiaMcGonagal/status/1146078137089839104
https://twitter.com/democracynow/status/1146105260311814146
👏👏👏
https://twitter.com/_SJPeace_/status/1146117567179907072
https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1146079827650330624
https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1146108202242777105
https://twitter.com/marcushjohnson/status/1146112601635610624
😒😒😒
https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1146103457033723904
😠😠😠
https://twitter.com/merica/status/1146052881629483008
https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1146111483711016960
https://twitter.com/skepticalbrotha/status/1146070057996496896
I’m getting things ready for the 4th today. I have a lot of people coming over.
I know that you are going to throw a great shindig 😚😚😋😋
Tanks in the streets. Concentration camps. Bumbling toward useless war in Iran. Millions flowing through Trump’s businesses. Everything but crowns for Ivanka & Jared.
Everyone who was called hysterical was right — yet still no one is listening to them about what happens next.
https://t.co/wwMUOeaNYd— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) July 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1146080930252984320
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1146083256963518465
Interesting.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1145798655594467328
https://twitter.com/harrisonjaime/status/1146046546380840961
https://twitter.com/Emma_Dumain/status/1146071315104849926
https://twitter.com/tyrone345345/status/1146052619481337857
She was so cool. I couldn’t have been that cool if a contractor showed up at my house with a Confederate flag flying high off his vehicle.
https://twitter.com/NCRMuseum/status/1146058237889994752
https://twitter.com/PortiaMcGonagal/status/1146045064700780544
From the article: “D’Andrea also serves on the neighborhood association committee, a fact that caused a few neighbors to reconsider his membership.”
Reminds me so much of George Zimmerman except, thankfully, he didn’t kill the child.
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1146044305464811520
Word of the Day : July 2, 2019
Burgeon: verb BER-jun
Definition
1 a : to send forth new growth (such as buds or branches) : sprout
b : bloom
2 : to grow and expand rapidly : flourish
https://twitter.com/Deoliver47/status/1146012479396491266
😪😪😪
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1145917518332223488
https://twitter.com/ItsCam_Famm/status/1145162171028058113
😂😂😂
https://twitter.com/TheKitchenista/status/1146052663768956929
I think the title is bullshyt, the editorial is milquetoast.
We don’t have an immigration crisis. We have a racism put into policy crisis, by an Administration bound an determined to hurt non-White people. A border patrol that is out of control, and needs to be completely cleaned of personnel. And. I don’t see or hear from one phucking Republican office holder about what’s happening in these camps.
This entire op-ed just did nothing for me.
The Immigration Crisis Is Corrupting the Nation
Border agents who demeaned migrants on Facebook have exacerbated a grim situation.
By The Editorial Board
The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.
July 1, 2019
WHO is desensitized. Certainly not me, or anyone here. We’re absolutely phucking furious!
YEP This NYT lede is BULLSHIT.
They want us to roll out in the streets and by ways and act a fool, so that they can roll up on us with MILITARY tanks.
I searched around the internet, and couldn’t find stories of any indictments from the NY AG’s office. So…what happened that sent Dolt45 on a tear about AG James yesterday?
He knows what’s coming down the pike
This POS always goes after anyone who threatens his thinly veiled con-artist cover.
THIS
“When has a former president ever accused a current president of being illegitimate?”
First time in my life times.
about those tanks for Dolt45’s vanity project:
Not to mention PBO’s attempts at getting lNFRASTRUCTURE legislation passed FIFTY-ELEVEN TIMES!!!!
Silverman went all in on the disinformation campaign yesterday, against the Congressional delegation that went to the Concentration Camps.
Watching the Disinformation and Influence Operation Being Made In Real Time
by Adam L Silverman at 10:41 pm on July 1, 2019.
Rep. Nadler: Border agency heads should be prosecuted for abuse
Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over border matters, calls the treatment of immigrants at detention centers “inhuman” and calls for the prosecution of border agency heads for child abuse and other crimes.
Trump USDA climate science quash squanders US science leadership
Rachel Maddow looks at the history of scientific excellence and global leadership by the USDA and how the agency’s research capacity is being decimated by Donald Trump and Secretary Sonny Perdue’s effort to suppress climate science and other research that doesn’t comport with the Trump agenda.
SCOTUS makes state races key to next decade of political power
Rachel Maddow explains how the Supreme Court declining to rule against partisan gerrymandering has declared open season on fair elections and made the coming state legislatures critical because they will use the new census data to draw new voting districts that could cement power for the next decade until the next census.
Corey Bu-Shea (@coreybking) Tweeted:
Kamala is a cop is the narrative that the overwoke are going with, but they have no problem with Elizabeth Warren being a whole ass Republican during the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations…make that make sense 🙄🙄🙄🙄 https://twitter.com/coreybking/status/1145798225657552897?s=17
👏👏👏
https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/status/1145854773096341505
https://twitter.com/bravenakblogs/status/1144885919121412096
🤔🤔🤔
https://twitter.com/Sil_Lai/status/1145847636941037571
Just watched the trailer for the new Scream reboot, done by Queen Latifah, and it has Mary J and Keke Palmer in it. I don’t do horror, but, I have always made an exception for Scream. I’m in. It’ll be Monday, July 8th on VH1.
https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1145770585907245058
https://twitter.com/shadowandact/status/1145799009799483393
https://twitter.com/quiethandfilms/status/1145462803848814594
And still as relevant TODAY.
DO.THE.RIGHT.THING
https://twitter.com/OBWSapp/status/1145800049026359297
Congratulations, Dr. Simpson! Keep reaching for the stars and BEYOND.
Same pretty smile.
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1145793216014405632
Truth😠😠
Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
2016 was about how they worked to suppress the Black & Minority vote.
2020 will be about how they work to divide the Black & Minority vote.
We’re seeing this play out already. https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1145696056560291840?s=17
Uncle Cletus 😂😂 😂
https://twitter.com/TheObamanista/status/1145678335625895936
😪😪😪
https://twitter.com/stevenjgaither/status/1145766476747608066
Indeed!
https://twitter.com/NMAAHC/status/1145731513817939969
This site is a must-see, if you’re traveling to Ontario
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1145765521197031424
Congratulations, Cori! Beautiful. What a gift to be able to compete with your role model and win!
https://twitter.com/DemRedistrict/status/1145697260442927104
😲😲😪😪🙏🙏
https://twitter.com/AFarray/status/1145706036424261635
😠😠😠
https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1145848032170258432
https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1145911718939414528
St. Ignatius is a great school, but, if she wanted to, she could have gotten her son a spot in one of the top magnet schools in the city, which always land in the top 10 best schools in the entire state…I’m just saying 🤨🤨
Folks bringing receipts.
https://twitter.com/skepticalbrotha/status/1146009656462065664
https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1145636460684566529
Yep👏👏
Ebony Edwards-Ellis (@Eedwardsellis) Tweeted:
I really wish you Never Trump types would go fuck yourselves. You were totally okay with racism, misogyny, elitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia when Saint Ronnie, H.W.and W were doing it. You’re just mad because Trump started saying the quiet part out loud. https://t.co/9t8uFAUQMJ https://twitter.com/Eedwardsellis/status/1145815693939679238?s=17
https://twitter.com/douglasemhoff/status/1145859093392793600
Racist Attacks are a DISTRACTION
🤔🤔🤔
https://twitter.com/meenaharris/status/1145697059078434816
🤔🤔
https://twitter.com/NewBlackMan/status/1145656198445838338
😠😠😠
https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1145876201388564482
🤔😒🤨
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1145894274627768320
😠😠😪😪
https://twitter.com/KristenClarkeJD/status/1145889200727908357
https://twitter.com/MrWeeks1982/status/1145816771741593602
Good Morning, Everyone 😄 😄😄
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone.