Moment Donald Trump & Barack Obama joke beside icy Jill Biden & Kamala Harris in tense exchange at Jimmy Carter funeral
At Jimmy Carter’s funeral, President-elect Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama were seen making a laugh together in an awkward pre-event moment.
Behind an icy Jill Biden and Kamala Harris, the 44th and 45th presidents were spotted smiling in the second row at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
Trump was observed twisting his head and body to address his predecessor, with his wife Melania seated on his left.
Obama was observed lowering his head to listen to Trump’s remarks and laughing multiple times.
The two former presidents have had tense relations in recent years; at the Democratic National Convention, Obama made a joke about Trump’s “obsession with crowd sizes” that was full of double meanings.
Trump was always a harsh critic of Obama, bringing up the debunked “birther” argument again and time again to argue that Obama’s Kenyan birth precluded him from serving as president of the United States.
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Obama did, however, shake hands with the other living presidents but not with Trump or Melania.
Several people who watched the funeral were astonished by Obama and Trump’s friendly relationship.
On X, the original name for Twitter, one person said that the two were “talking like buddies at an NFL game.”
In contrast, they say, Vice President Harris and the First Lady “look like they want to go at it.”
Another asked, “How about the frost between Kamala and Dr Jill.”
“You can feel the chill from the photo.”
“Wonder what Trump said that made Obama laugh so hard,” a third user said.
Harris seems to turn around and see Obama and Trump conversing at one point throughout the proceedings.
“Harris notices Trump and Obama chatting in the background and she looks P***ED,” a another person added.
FROSTY RECEPTION
Bush, a fellow Republican, slapped Obama in the stomach before shaking hands with the other members, pointingly refusing to shake hands with Trump.
As they entered the ceremony and sat down, Bill and Hillary Clinton seemed to overlook Bush, Obama, and Trump.
JIMMY CARTER – A CENTURY OF SERVICE
After a really extraordinary life, President Jimmy Carter passed away in December 2024 at the age of 100. This is his incredible life narrative, which includes his upbringing in Depression-era Georgia, his time in the White House, and decades of charitable work.
- Oct 1, 1924 – James Earl Carter Jr. is born in Plains, Georgia, the first American president to be born in a hospital. His mom worked as a nurse. His father ran a general store
- Jun 1946 – Carter graduates from US Naval Academy. The following month, he marries Rosalynn Smith in his hometown. They remain married for almost 8 decades and have four children, John William, James Earl 3rd, Donnel Jeffrey, and Amy Lynn
- 1946-53 – Carter serves in a Navy nuclear submarine program, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander
- 1953 – Carter returns to Plains after his father’s death and helps run the family’s peanut farm business for the next 18 years
- 1963 – Carter is elected to the Georgia state Senate
- 1970 – Carter is elected governor of Georgia
- Jul 1976 – He accepts the Democratic nomination for president, announcing Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale as his running mate
- Nov 1976 – Carter defeats Republican President Gerald Ford, winning 51% of the vote and 297 electoral votes to Fords’s 240
- Sep 1977 – US and Panama sign treaties to return Panama Canal back to the country in 1999. Trump has talked this year of reclaiming it from Panama
- Sep 1978 – Carter oversees the signing of Camp David accords, leading to peace deal between Israel and Egypt the following year
- Jun 1979 – Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev agree to nuclear arms reduction with the signing of the SALT II treaty
- Nov 1979 – The Iranian hostage crisis begins as militants storm the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 prisoners. The hostages will not be freed until 1981, minutes after Carter leaves office
- November 1980 – Carter loses the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan, who wins 51.6% of popular vote to Carter’s 41.7. Independent John Anderson wins 6.7%
- 1982 – Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter co-found The Carter Center in Atlanta. Its aim is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights, and prevent disease around the world
- Sep 1984 – The Carters spend a week building Habitat for Humanity houses. It will become the annual Carter Work Project
- 1989 – 1999 – Carter travels the world engaging in peace talks in various conflict and scenes of tension, including North Korea, Bosnia, Sudan, and Haiti
- Aug 1999 – Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton
- Dec 2002 – Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Price
- Oct 2014 – Carter celebrates his 90th birthday
- Dec 2014 – He is nominated for a Grammy in the best spoken word album category for his book A Call To Action
- Aug 2015 – Carter has a small cancerous mass removed from his liver
- May 2016 – He steps back from his “front-line” worjk
- 2018 – Carter publishes Faith: A Journey for All. It is his 32nd – and last – book
- Mar 2019 – Carter becomes the longest-lived US president, surpassing President George HW Bush, who died in 2018
- 2019 – Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter deliver their final in-person report at The Carter Center. Carter suffers a fall, but still joins in the Work Project with Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the last time he will work personally on the annual project
- Jan 2021 – The Carters miss President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the first they haven’t attended since Carter’s own in 1977
- Feb 2023 – Carter enters home hospice care after several short hospital stays
- Jul 2023 – The Carters celebrate their 77th and final wedding anniversary
- Nov 2023 – Rosalynn dies at home
- Oct 2024 – Carter becomes the first former US president to reach age 100. That same month, he casts a Georgia mail ballot for Democrat Kamala Harris
- Dec 2024 – Carter dies at home. His funeral is held the following month in Washington DC
The burial for America’s longest-living president, who passed away last month at the age of 100 after nearly two years in hospice care, was not attended by Obama’s wife Michelle.
The former First Lady is in Hawaii, according to a spokesman, and was unable to attend the funeral due to a scheduling conflict.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
The possibility for five living presidents to be in one location has been made possible by Carter’s funeral.
The only other time in US history before to 1991 where more than five presidents were in office at the same time was circa 1861.
Carter was one of five former presidents that attended George H.W. Bush’s funeral in December 2018, which was the penultimate presidential funeral.
All of the first ladies, both past and present, attended the funeral of Carter’s late wife, Rosalynn, in 2023.
Trump and his former vice president Mike Pence were also seen shaking hands prior to the start of the event.
For the first time in four years, the couple was spotted together in public.
Melania declined to shake Trump’s hand, and Mike Pence’s wife Karen was captured on camera looking down at her.
After resting in state in the Capitol for two days, Carter’s casket was moved to Washington’s National Cathedral on Thursday morning.
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His corpse will be brought to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, after the service, where President Joe Biden will speak.
At a private ceremony, he and his late wife will be buried together.