Jimmy Carter is a fan of Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton? Not so much.
During the Carter Center’s annual Human Rights Defenders Forum in downtown Atlanta, Carter — joined onstage by the Vermont senator — told the audience that he voted for the independent-turned-Democrat-turned-independent last year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sanders said it's hard to work with President Donald Trump because the president "lies all the time." Sanders added that the president changes his mind constantly. "People often ask me, ‘What do you think about what the president said yesterday?’"
"It’s hard to answer because his [Trump's] view will be different tomorrow, and very often, factually what he says is just not correct."
Sanders then spoke about the amount of influence money has had on recent elections, and how low-voter turnout has led to an erosion of the democratic process. “If we had 80 percent of the people voting in this country, the Republican Party would be a significant minority,” Sanders said, according to the Washington Post.
“So we have got to get people involved. And you do that by being honest about the real problems they face and come up with real solutions," he added. At which point Carter looked at the audience and said, "Can y’all see why I voted for him?" Carter did not take questions so further details regarding his comment are not available.
Despite his eventual endorsement of the Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, Carter has been quite clear on how he feels about the Clinton family and the current issues that have plagued political discourse in the U.S. In 1992, Carter refrained from endorsing Bill Clinton and instead said that "people are looking for somebody who is honest and tells the truth," according to the New York Times. When Hillary Clinton ran against Barack Obama in 2008, Carter decided to give his endorsement to Obama, saying Clinton should "give it up" according to the Washington Post.
The Post also noted that Carter predicted Clinton would defeat Sanders in the primary race because of the financial support she had. In July 2015, Carter told ABC, “There won’t be any problem with Hillary getting the nomination because money dominates." Adding that "she [Clinton] has an inside track to the massive amounts that are going to pour into the Democratic Party side.”
In an interview an hour prior to his discussion with Sanders, Carter told AJC that the longest-serving independent senator was a perfect representation for what Carter Center's forum stands for.
"I think during the last election in America, Bernie Sanders represented the best of all the candidates what this conference is about," Carter said. "When you lose your opportunity to have some reasonable chance of a decent income, you lose a lot of other things as well. One of the key things people feel is that they’ve lost a voice in their own government."
Carter, 92, listed ideals that the American people need to continue to fight for. "Basic human rights, income, status in society, health care, education, justice," he said. "The things in which we used to have complete faith have now been distorted by rich people getting richer."
Watch the video via the Carter Center Facebook page below.
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