(RepublicanJournal.org) – At 99 years old, and suffering from a terminal illness, former president Jimmy Carter probably won’t be with us much longer. However, as of now he’s still very much still alive, and currently beating the previous record for the longest-lived US president by more than five years. That didn’t stop a sick hoaxer from circulating a letter claiming Carter had died, though — and the people he fooled included a US senator.
On July 23, a letter, marked as “From the office of Jimmy Carter,” started circulating online. It opened by saying the 99-year-old 39th president had died at 1:34 that morning at his home in Plains, Georgia. The letter quickly started to get attention. Conservative media personality Laura Loomer reposted it on her X (formerly Twitter) account. Several news outlets, including the New York Post, also picked up on it. Then Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) reposted it on his own X account.
There was just one problem: Carter, who’s been in hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia since February 2023, is still alive. His health has been declining for years, and on February 18, of that year, the Carter Center announced he was terminally ill and would “spend his remaining time at home with his family,” but that time hasn’t run out yet.
The letter turned out to be a hoax — as should have been obvious to anyone who read beyond the first paragraph, because the text quickly turned to satire. It praised Carter for “getting soft on the Soviet Union” and referred to his late wife Rosalynn, who died last November after 77 years of marriage, as “a baddie” and “the original Brat.” The Carter Center later confirmed that there’s been no change in Carter’s condition and the letter is completely false.
It turns out the letter was probably written by a supporter of President Joe Biden. Contacted through social media by Reuters, its author said it was “maddening” that people were circulating “misinformation” about Biden’s failing health, and said he wanted to prove that people spread “sensational news” without checking if it’s accurate first. Of course, Carter hasn’t shown off his poor health to the whole country at a presidential debate.
Copyright 2024, RepublicanJournal.org
