The 93-year-old former president underscored the complicated calculations for Democrats as they prepare for the midterms

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Jimmy Carter has issued a warning to his fellow Democrats looking to oust the Trump administration: don’t go too far to the left.

“Independents need to know they can invest their vote in the Democratic party,” the former US president said in an annual address he gives at his post-presidential center and library in Atlanta.

Carter advised caution about the political consequences should Democrats “move to a very liberal program, like universal health care”.

That is delicate and, Carter acknowledged, even contradictory advice coming from the 93-year-old former president, and it underscores the complicated political calculations for Democrats as they prepare for the November midterms and look ahead to the 2020 presidential election.

“Rosie and I voted for Bernie Sanders in the past,” Carter noted.

He was referring to his wife, Rosalynn, and their support for the Vermont senator, the independent who identifies as a Democratic socialist, over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

In his address on Tuesday, Carter also said he sees little hope for America to change its human rights and environmental policies as long as Donald Trump is in the White House.

He singled out Trump’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border, including those seeking asylum.

“America is inherently committed to human rights, and I think in the future we will let that prevail,” Carter said, “but for the next two years, I can’t predict the imprisoned children are going to be any better off unfortunately.”

He pointed to California’s environmental policies limiting carbon emissions and mandating stiffer fuel-efficiency standards as the model for combating climate change. California governor Jerry Brown on the same day told the Guardian that Trump’s “gross ignorance” on the subject of climate change is the main obstacle to battling the looming crisis.



Meanwhile Carter stressed that Democrats nationally must “appeal to independents”, who he warned are souring on the current administration.



There is some historical irony in Carter’s analysis. He came to the White House in 1976 from the moderate wing of the Democratic party. He clashed with party liberals and was later unable to win over independents – who voted Republican and helped deliver a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan in 1980.



