President Joe Biden let slip on Tuesday something that was likely supposed to remain a secret for the time being, when he revealed that he had agreed to a request from former President Jimmy Carter to deliver the eulogy at his funeral, PJ Media reported.

The arrangement is both ironic and "fitting," according to the outlet, as Carter, who up until recently was widely regarded as the worst U.S. president of the modern era, will soon be eulogized by Biden, who is perceived by millions of Americans as having supplanted Carter for that dubious title.

Whoops!

President Biden delivered a speech Monday evening at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser event at a private residence in Rancho Santa Fe, California, in which he regaled the audience with anecdotes from his past interspersed with claims about his accomplishments.

Near the end of his remarks, the president made mention of advances in cancer research and medical breakthroughs in the search for cures and treatments, at which point he accidentally divulged his apparently secret deal with the 98-year-old Carter, who previously battled against cancer.

"Look at -- look at what happened with Jimmy Carter. Now, he -- I -- he asked me to do his eulogy. I’m -- excuse me, I shouldn’t say that," Biden said.

"I’ve spent time with Jimmy Carter. And it’s finally caught up with him, but they found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than he was anticipated to go because they found a breakthrough. Immunotherapy is incredibly important," he added.

Carter's declining health

CNN reported that President Biden, in his remarks about former President Carter, was likely referring to four cancerous spots that had been discovered on Carter's brain in 2015 but that had been successfully treated that same year.

Carter has continued to suffer from declining health as he has aged, though, including in 2019 when surgery was required to relieve pressure from his brain, the aftermath of which, in conjunction with the 2020 pandemic, compelled Carter to become something of a reclusive homebody over the past few years.

The outlet noted that Carter's family announced in February that the former president is now in hospice care at home and will no longer seek or receive "additional medical intervention" for his worsening health issues.

Personal friends since the 1970s

The Associated Press also reported on the likely unplanned revelation of President Biden's agreement to deliver a eulogy for former President Carter at his eventual state funeral in Washington D.C., though Carter's family has indicated that he will also have a private funeral and be buried in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.

Biden, who most recently visited Carter at his Georgia home in 2021, has long been friendly with his predecessor -- even as many other Democrats over the years sought to distance themselves from the "worst president" of the modern era -- as Biden was the first sitting senator to endorse and support Carter's successful 1976 presidential campaign.

The outlet further noted that, personal relationship aside, it is not at all unusual for both sitting and former presidents to eulogize their late predecessors, at times even regardless of partisan or ideological differences, which, of course, wouldn't be the case in this instance.

The similarities are stark

As for PJ Media's assertion that this arrangement between Biden and Carter was "fitting" in terms of how historically bad those presidents are and were, that couldn't be more true.

Both had/have disastrous foreign policies that displayed weakness on the world stage and abandoned America's allies while strengthening enemies and rivals, both had/have overseen dismal economies with high inflation and stagnant growth, both had/have stifled domestic energy production to the point of crisis, and, hopefully, both will have been summarily voted out of office after just one term as president.