Jimmy Carter reportedly remains the only former U.S. president confirmed to attend Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony with less than a month until inauguration day.
While President Obama will undoubtedly be on hand to ceremoniously pass the torch to Mr. Trump on Jan. 20, he’s so far slated to be joined by only one other former commander in chief, Politico reported Friday.
Mr. Carter, 92, told a Sunday school class in Georgia earlier this month that he plans to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration, making him the only one of Mr. Obama’s three living predecessors to RSVP. Mr. Carter, a Democrat, supported Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
George H.W. Bush, 92, has already confirmed that he’ll be skipping the event, according to a spokesman who cited the former president’s advanced age as the reason he won’t be attending Mr. Trump’s inauguration next month.
George W. Bush, his 70-year-old son, won’t decide until next month whether he’ll attend, a spokesperson said.
“We simply don’t discuss his schedule this far in advance,” spokesperson Freddy Ford told CBS News.
Bill Clinton, who served as president between either Bush administration, has not yet decided whether he’ll attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration, a spokesperson told CBS News this week.
Given the heated rivalry that erupted between Mr. Trump and the Clinton family during this year’s White House race, however, an anonymous source close to the 42nd president told Politico that Mr. Clinton, 70, is inclined to skip the inauguration as well.
Prior to defeating Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic nominee in this year’s presidential race, Mr. Trump repeatedly set his sights on his rival’s family life, incessantly rekindling discussions of extramarital affairs and improprieties that dogged Mr. Clinton during his time in office.
Even after being elected, however, Mr. Trump and the former president have continued to publicly have at one another.
Mr. Trump “doesn’t know much,” but “one thing he does know is how to get angry, white men to vote for him,” Mr. Clinton told The Record Review newspaper in New York state this month.
“He doesn’t know much,” Mr. Trump countered on Twitter this week. “Especially how to get people, even with an unlimited budget, out to vote in the vital swing states ( and more). They focused on wrong states,” referring to Hillary Clinton’s failed White House bid.
Traditionally, all former living presidents are invited to attend the inaugurations of their successors. Each of the four former presidents alive in Jan. 2009 attended Mr. Obama’s inauguration that year, though the presidents Bush sat out his re-election in 2012 after citing health reasons.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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