assassination attemptCarter held summits in Egypt and Tunisia in 1995–1996 to address violence in the Great Lakes region of Africa,[278] and played a key role in negotiation of the Nairobi Agreement in 1999 between Sudan and Uganda.[279]
Carter began his first year out of office with a pledge not to critique the new Reagan administration.[280] He spoke out after the assassination attempt on Reagan,[281] and voiced his agreement with Reagan on building neutron arms in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[282] He later disagreed with Reagan's handling of the Middle East.[283] The following year, Carter called for bipartisanship to fix American economic issues,[284] and criticized the Reagan administration's handling of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.[285] Carter responded favorably to Reagan choosing to remain within the Camp David agreement,[286] with distaste toward what he felt was Reagan blaming his tenure for continued difficulties in policy.[287][288] In 1983, Carter judged the Reagan campaign with having falsified simplicity in solving issues,[289] and criticized Reagan for a lack of attention to human rights violations.[290] In 1984, Carter stated he had been wrongly presented as weak by Reagan due to a commitment to human rights during the previous presidential election,[291] and condemned Reagan for not making rescue efforts to retrieve four American businessmen from West Beirut.[292] In 1985, Carter rebuked Reagan over his handling of peace within the Middle East,[293] his support of the Strategic Defense Initiative,[294] and Reagan's claim of an international conspiracy on terrorism.[295] Carter's insistence that Reagan was not preserving peace in the Middle East continued in 1987,[296] Carter during the year also criticizing Reagan for adhering to terrorist demands,[297] nomination of Robert Bork for the Supreme Court,[298] and handling of the Persian Gulf.[299]
During the presidency of George W. Bush, Cart
During the presidency of George W. Bush, Carter stated his opposition to the Iraq War,[300] and what he considered an attempt on the part of Bush and Tony Blair to oust Saddam Hussein through the usage of "lies and misinterpretations".[301] In May 2007, Carter stated the Bush administration "has been the worst in history" in terms of its impact in foreign affairs,[302] and later stated he was just comparing Bush's tenure to that of Richard Nixon.[303] Carter's comments received a response from the Bush administration in the form of Tony Fratto saying Carter was increasing his irrelevance with his commentary.[304] By the end of Bush's second term, Carter considered Bush's tenure disappointing, which he disclosed in comments to Forward Magazine of Syria.[305]
Though he praised President Obama in the early part of his tenure,[306] Carter stated his disagreements with the use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists, Obama's choice to keep Guantanamo Bay detention camp open,[307] and the current federal surveillance programs as disclosed by Edward Snowden indicating that "America has no functioning democracy at this moment."[308][309]
During the Trump presidency, Carter spoke favorably of the chance for immigration reform through Congress,[310] and criticized Trump for his handling of the U.S. national anthem protests.[311] In 2019, Carter received a phone call from Trump in which Trump expressed concern that China was "getting ahead" of the United States. Carter agreed and stated: "And do you know why? I normalized diplomatic relations with China in 1979. Since 1979 do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody? None. And we have stayed at war."[312] Carter stated that the U.S. has been at war for all but 16 years of its 242-year history and called the U.S. “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” because of a tendency to try to force others to “adopt our American principles.”[312] Carter said of American military spending: "We have wasted I think $3 trillion. … It’s more than you can imagine. China has not wasted a single penny on war and that’s why they’re ahead of us. In almost every way."[312]