December 30, 2024 02:20 PM UTC

Stay Classy, Rep. Matt Soper (Jimmy Carter Eulogy Edition)

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• by: Colorado Pols

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: As the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Nathan Deal reports, Rep. Matt Soper is once again very sorry:

The Daily Sentinel reached out to Soper for comment and received a text from Soper late Tuesday morning, reading:

“My only comment will be that my Tweet/X was in poor taste and while I am not a fan of fmr Pres Carter, expressing the sentiments I did I am very sorry for and apologise to the people of Colorado.”

…Soper’s tweet celebrating Carter’s death at 100 years old is not the first time he’s found himself at the center of social media controversy. In March 2023, Soper tweeted that Western Slope residents “need to be prepared for civil war” over several Colorado Legislature bills addressing gun laws. He then apologized for “some of those words” before the Colorado House.

Words consistently seem to trip up Rep. Soper. Perhaps he should consider using them…less.

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Amid the outpouring of sympathy and praise for the long and well-lived life of former President Jimmy Carter after news of his passing at age 100 arrived yesterday afternoon, which even included once and future President Donald Trump who called Carter “a truly good man” and “very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office,” there were some conservatives who used the occasion to reveal more about their personal character than their views of the recently-departed President of the United States. Once such local example was state Rep. Matt Soper of Delta County, who has a history of firing off incendiary deep thoughts on social media only to wish he hadn’t the next morning:

Let’s check in on how a backbencher Colorado State Representative who supports Lauren Boebert and Donald Trump feels about the passing of President Carter

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— The Get More Smarter Podcast (@getmoresmarter.com) December 30, 2024 at 7:48 AM

Thanking the Almighty for the death of a 100-year-old man best known for building houses and farming peanuts is a step beyond even most of the uncharitable eulogies we’ve seen from anyone in the barely a day since former President Carter’s death. Rep. Soper has a reputation as one of the more intellectual members of the Colorado House GOP minority caucus, wherein the bar is admittedly low–but from blaming Dominion Voting machines for the results of a city council election he didn’t like to threatening a civil war over gun safety bills, it’s a reputation that our experience hasn’t borne out. After Soper’s civil war social media threats in March of 2023, Soper leaned on his reputation to assure his colleagues that despite the occasional wacky Tweet he’s really a contemplative guy:

“Over this weekend some of you may have noticed I acted out of character on Twitter,” he said from the floor of the House. “I feel that it’s my duty to explain why. Normally I’m known as being rational and reasonable, and choosing my words very carefully. “They were chosen carefully, but I do want to apologize for a couple of words that were in the tweet because I do think it’s important that we choose our words carefully,” he added.

More than a year and a half later, it’s a fair question whether this is “out of character” for Soper at all. If even Donald Trump can avoid thanking God that Jimmy Carter is dead, there perhaps are still some minimum standards–and once again, Rep. Matt Soper fell beneath them.