Don't Fall For This Fake Jimmy Carter Quote About Trump and Heaven

Following former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's death in late 2024, an alleged quote by him about heaven and President-elect Donald Trump circulated online. According to the rumor (archived and archived), Carter said the "best part" about heaven is knowing that Trump will not be there.

(X user @DissentingCat)

The rumor was not a recounting of real-life events. It originated from The Borowitz Report, a newsletter run by satirical writer and comedian Andy Borowitz. The newsletter describes itself as "a news satire site."

On Jan. 9, 2025, the newsletter published an article with the headline, "Jimmy Carter Says Best Part of Heaven is He Will Never See Trump." The article claimed that the former president, who died on Dec. 29, 2024, at the age of 100, made the in-question comment during a recent interview, stating: 

In a wide-ranging interview on Thursday, former President Jimmy Carter said that the best part of Heaven "by far" is the knowledge that he will never see Donald J. Trump again.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the gift of eternal life," he said. "But an eternity without Trump is the greatest gift of all."

Carter said that he was "far from alone" in appreciating his Trump-free existence, adding, "Nelson Mandela just said the same thing."

Asked if he had seen Trump on cable news criticizing his sale of the Panama Canal, Carter responded, "We don't have cable news up here. I've heard it's on nonstop in the other place."

The article was clearly a joke, given that it states Carter made the remark after his death and that he and South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela — who died in 2013 — were bonding over their alleged "Trump-free existence."

The newsletter's "About" page states:

If you're meeting me for the first time, I'm Andy Borowitz, a writer and comedian. [...] I've been writing satirical news since I was eighteen. This represents either commitment to a genre or arrested development. [...]

Then, in 2001, I started emailing made-up news stories to friends. One suggested that creating a "website" would make it easier to "blast" my "posts." Soon, The Borowitz Report was live at BorowitzReport.com, and my free newsletter was reaching untold dozens of people.

Borowitz noted that The New Yorker magazine published The Borowitz Report for 11 years from 2012 to 2023. It returned to being an independent newsletter after that.

The satirical claim was not the first rumor about Carter and Trump to circulate following the former's death. For instance, Snopes debunked the false claim that while attending Carter's funeral, Trump failed to place his hand over his heart when soldiers carried the casket.

For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.