--- description: Former President Jimmy Carter said America "apparently" wants a jerk for a president on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. title: Jimmy Carter: America 'Apparently' Wants a Jerk President image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Late Night](/tag/late-night/) ## Late Night Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Jimmy Carter: America 'Apparently' Wants a Jerk for President  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 31, 2018 8:00 PM CUT  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 31, 2018 8:00 PM CUT Former President Jimmy Carter didn’t mince words when talk turned to President Donald Trump on the _Late Show with Stephen Colbert_ on Friday. After asking Carter about his good-guy image, Colbert asked the 93-year-old if he was too nice to be president. “Does America want kind of a jerk as president?” Colbert asked. “Apparently, from this recent election year,” Carter responded. “I never knew it before.” He got in another jab when Colbert asked about the one quality a president must have. “I used to think it was to tell the truth,” Carter said, “but I’ve changed my mind lately.” Carter, who stopped by the _Late Show_ to promote his new book, _Faith_, also told Colbert that he prays for Trump. “I pray that he’ll be a good president and that he’ll keep our country at peace and that he’ll refrain from using nuclear weapons and that he will promote human rights,” Carter said. “So, yeah, I pray for him.” See Carter’s full interview in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5223655/jimmy-carter-trump-stephen-colbert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5223655/jimmy-carter-trump-stephen-colbert/"},"headline":"Jimmy Carter: America 'Apparently' Wants a Jerk for President","datePublished":"2018-03-31T20:00:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:50:25.457Z","description":"He also said he prays for Trump","url":"https://time.com/5223655/jimmy-carter-trump-stephen-colbert/","keywords":["Late Night","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/late-night/","name":"Late Night"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5223655/jimmy-carter-trump-stephen-colbert/","name":"Jimmy Carter: America 'Apparently' Wants a Jerk for President"}}]}] ```