In a pointed warning, President Joe Biden cautioned about “hate” and the “abuse of power” on Thursday at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me ― and through his life, taught me ― that strength of character is more than title or the power we hold. It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect, that everyone ― and I mean everyone ― deserves an even shot,” Biden said with President-elect Donald Trump in the audience at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
“We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbour and to stand up to what my dad used to say is the greatest sin of all: the abuse of power,” Biden continued.
Those words closely mirror pastcomments Biden has made about Trump, who is expected to push for an expansion of executive authority when he takes office and has repeatedly argued presidential immunity in his many indictments.
Carter, who died last month at age 100, fulfilled his dying wish of voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in October. The former president, who’d been in home hospice care for more than a year, was “trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” his family said over the summer.
“My grandfather can’t wait to vote for Kamala Harris,” his grandson Jason Carter said at the Democratic National Convention. “She reminds us all that the promise of America remains unchanged. We are one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, and my grandfather knows that with her as our next president, we will keep that promise.”
Harris also eulogised Carter at his funeral on Thursday, saying he “retained a fundamental decency and humility” throughout his life.
“Jimmy Carter was that all too rare example of a gifted man who also walks with humility, modesty and grace,” said Harris, who lost the presidential election to Trump in November.
