CNN's Abby Phillip was in charge of covering President Jimmy Carter's funeral, and she seems to have had a come to Jesus moment. Maybe, just maybe, Donald Trump isn't a monster and could be gracious in his statements about Carter's passing. That ruffled the feathers of serial fabulist Aaron Rupar, who accused Phillip of "sanewashing" Trump, who he noted "routinely smeared him as [the] second worst president in history." It was pretty gracious of Trump to rank Carter above Joe Biden.
Rupar doesn't seem to understand that when someone passes away, it's routine to say nice things about them.
CNN's Abby Phillip working overtime to sanewash Trump today. Trump's statements about Jimmy Carter have not been "incredibly gracious." Trump routinely smeared him during his stump speeches as second worst president in history, behind Biden -- even as Carter was in hospice care pic.twitter.com/mkNas2TDKU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 9, 2025
That clip is the best reporting we've heard from CNN in a long time.
Well, it was the truth.
— S. Easland (@sdeasland1) January 9, 2025
Anyone around during the Carter years agrees.
— Ironball (@Ironball_T) January 9, 2025
She’s right.
— Jammles (@jammles9) January 9, 2025
Does the truth bother you?
— Cody Anderson 🇺🇸 (@twitturdlied) January 9, 2025
Rupar? Absolutely.
He wasn’t wrong, though. 🤷🏻♂️
— Man with a plan (@jerelyt) January 9, 2025
Truth is not always pleasant
— Susan Wilson (@SusanWi56265245) January 9, 2025
Hospice doesn't fix your poor legacy.
— Whiskey Rebellion (@BREAKFASTat12) January 9, 2025
Being in hospice care didn't change anything about Carter's presidency. Trump certainly isn't alone in his belief that Carter sucked as a president.
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And Carter said Trump was an illegitimate president based on complete bullshit.
— wfmike (@wfmike9) January 9, 2025
Trump isn't gracious about Carter; but he's also not wrong.
— TD Smyers (@SmyersTD) January 9, 2025
I share an alma mater and a birthday with the late President, but I'm no fan of his single term in office. In fact, I remember extreme inflation, ridiculous interest rates and a dearth of spare parts in Navy aviation.
Smeared?
— Casey Hendrickson 🎙 Syndicated Radio Host (@caseythehost) January 9, 2025
Carter was, in fact, the second-worst president. Unless you want to give him number one? There is an argument.
You shills sure hate it when someone goes off message.
— Joel Schamber (@JoelSchamber) January 9, 2025
We're still shocked that Phillip said something positive about Trump. A lot of people in Rupar's replies are complaining that CNN is pandering to gain right-wing viewers and they had to switch to MSNBC at that point.
So honesty is inappropriate? Once Carter went into hospice, was he beyond fair criticism?
— S David Sultzer (@s_sultzer) January 9, 2025
What an idiot you are.
It's even gracious to say that Carter was a great ex-president. He wasn't. Sure, we all remember his work with Habitat for Humanity, but there's so much more to his story than that.
So what, Carter was an awful President, an international relations nightmare as an ex-President, and an acknowledged prick by people who really knew him. His only saving grace was Habitat and the fact he was friends with solid human, Gerald Ford.
— Gerd Hansma (@gmanndo) January 9, 2025
CNN's gone too far right for Rupar and his followers.
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