Carter: “I think I would choose Trump..."

AJC.com:  Did Jimmy Carter just say he’d like Donald Trump to become president?

Not exactly. And only if, you get the feeling, he was down to his very last choice.

Turning to the “almost completely unpredictable” race for the Republican nomination, Carter said he had a “feeling” that Trump’s chances ultimately would “fade away.

When people actually get ready to put on a ballot, ‘This is the person I want to lead me for the next four or eight years, I think they’ll have a little different opinion,’” Carter said.

Still, better him than Ted Cruz.

If he had to choose between Cruz and Trump for the Republican nomination, Carter chuckled, “I think I would choose Trump, which may surprise some of you.”

(It did, judging by the loud laughter from the audience.)

“The reason is, Trump has proven already he’s completly malleable,” Carter explained. “I don’t think he has any fixed (positions) he’d go the White House and fight for. On the other hand, Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far right wing policies he’d pursue if he became president.”

Independent Journal: Democratic President Actually Banned Entry from Muslim Nation

Immediately after the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979, [Jimmy] Carter issued an executive order that all Iranian students in the U.S. had to report to immigration officials within thirty days. Out of a population of over 50,000, there were 15,000 Iranians who were ejected from the country. An Appeals Court decision upheld the President’s authority for the action, in part saying this:

“The present controversy involving Iranian students in the United States lies in the field of our country’s foreign affairs and implicates matters over which the president has direct constitutional authority.”

More directly related to the current situation referred to by Trump’s idea, a concurring opinion in the decision made this point:

“Distinctions on the basis of nationality may be drawn in the immigration field by the Congress or the executive. So long as such distinctions are not wholly irrational, they must be sustained.”

It is important to note that there is no precedent for a religious litmus test, just a national one.

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The congress is considering legislation that would temporarily halt visas from 'high-risk' countries.

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