Given that Mika Brzezinski's late father Zbigniew Brzezinski served as Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, you knew that Morning Joe would go out of its way to celebrate Carter on the occasion of his becoming the oldest living former President.

And sure enough, on Friday's show, Joe Scarborough glorified Carter as an "extraordinary human being, a wonderful man," working in a gratuitous swipe at President Trump by adding, "just a great contrast with, unfortunately, what we're struggling through right now." Scarborough commended Carter for Camp David, and even claimed that his support for human rights contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain.

But the show took things an unpardonable step too far by absolving Carter of his multiple failures. First, Scarborough claimed that the Iranian hostage crisis and the oil crisis were "beyond his control." A bit later, Scarborough claimed that Carter's 1980 loss to Reagan wasn't due to his own failed leadership, but to Democrats' past mistakes that "fell on his shoulders." Poor Jimmy.





The Iranian crisis and the oil crisis were "beyond his control?" Really? The Iranian hostages were released the day that President Ronald Reagan assumed office, demonstrating that strong leadership could make all the difference. As to the oil crisis, Carter based his misguided policies on totally false assumptions, including the claims that oil and gas reserves were "running out," that within a few years "demand would overtake production," and that “we can’t substantially increase our domestic production.” Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

And Carter's 489-49 Electoral College thumping was due not to Dems' past mistakes, but to Carter's own weak leadership and pessimistic view of America. The country was eager for Ronald Reagan's bold affirmation of America's greatness.

Finally, Jon Meacham defended Carter's infamous "malaise" speech, claiming that "in a lot of division of the moment, we're seeing a manifestation of the forces that he bluntly worried about." Translation: the Prophet Jimmy foretold the rise of terrible Trump!

Note: Morning Joe began the segment with a clip of Carter's 2015 appearance on the show. Predictably, the "wonderful" man was blaming Israel in general and Netanyahu in particular for the failure of the peace process. Not surprising from a man who accepted millions in Arab oil money for the Carter Center, and wrote a book scurrilously accusing Israel of "apartheid."

Here's the transcript.



