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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
National
Jill Vejnoska

America �apparently� wanted a jerk for president, Carter says

Former President Jimmy Carter capped a busy week _ even for him _ with an appearance on CBS' "The Late Show" during which he both seemed to poke fun at Donald Trump and made it clear that he's praying for the current president.

Carter, 93, was there in to talk about his new book, "Faith: A Journey for All," but host Stephen Colbert clearly had other subjects on his mind.

For example, Colbert brought up Carter's good works as an ex-president, and then suggested he might have been too good a guy while in the Oval Office.

"Were you too nice to be president?" Colbert asked. "Does America want kind of a jerk as president?"

"Apparently, from this recent election year," Carter answered. "I never knew it before."

But Carter also said he's praying for Trump.

"I pray that he'll be a good president and that he'll keep our country at peace and refrain from using nuclear weapons," Carter said. "And that he'll support human rights. So yeah, I pray for him."

"Do you think your prayers are being answered?" Colbert asked. Carter responded by repeating something he said he'd heard his former pastor say:

"When you pray, God has one of three answers: 'Yes, no and you've got to be kidding/"

"Not sure which one it is yet," Carter said.

Colbert ended the interview by suggesting that the former one-term president and Georgia governor could have one more campaign left in him: Against Trump.

"Here you go, young man," Colbert said, handing Carter a T-shirt that bore the slogan, "Carter 2020: Still Constitutionally Eligible."

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