Five presidents and a funeral
Eleven days before Trump’s second presidential inauguration, it was perhaps slightly comforting to see him seated among the fraternity of former American presidents, their spouses and other dignitaries attending the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.
Not because it seemed likely that Trump would be converted by the orators’ moving accounts of Carter’s humility and good works--building housing for the poor, eradicating Guinea worm, teaching Sunday school, championing human rights and democracy. (Was especially moved by the story told by Gerald Ford’s son Steve Ford, of how Carter and his late father, whom Carter defeated in 1976, really became friends, after some awkwardness, on the long military flight home from Anwar Sadat’s funeral. The Egyptian leader was assassinated in 1981, three years after signing a historic peace deal with Israel under Carter’s leadership.)
If anything, one could imagine Trump thinking the only glory is in winning, not in good works, which is for losers. In any case, Trump likely won’t have a long post-presidency to worry about.
No. The slightly comforting aspect of it was, to sense that Trump had to spend a few moments considering his own mortality. And the prospect that in the next dozen or however many years, it would likely be his funeral at this same cathedral. And to consider, however briefly, what would be said of him.
That he slapped 25% tariffs on Canada or conquered Greenland or abandoned Ukraine seemed unlikely to be the kind of accomplishment he would see playing well at his National Cathedral funeral.
One rare thing I think Trump and Carter genuinely share/shared is a desire to make peace – peace in the Middle East in particular.
“Jimmy Carter’s most lasting achievement, and the one I think he was most proud of, was to bring the first peace to the Middle East through the greatest act of personal diplomacy in American diplomacy in American history, the Camp David Accords,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s White House domestic policy advisor, said in his eulogy.
“For 13 days and nights, he negotiated with Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, personally drafting more than 20 peace proposals and shuttling them between the Israeli and Egyptian delegations,” Eizenstat continued. “And he saved the agreement at the 11th hour, and it was the 11th hour, by appealing to Begin’s love of his grandchildren.”
“For the past 45 years, the Egypt Israel peace treaty has never been violated, and laid the foundation for the Abraham Accords,” Eizenstat said, the last point surely meant to get Trump’s attention, though I expect he was already listening to the whole thing.
We may be in for several years of chaos. But the fact of mortality is one check on power even this Supreme Court can’t insulate him from. And I think Trump is genuinely interested in making peace agreements and that is motivating to him.
Kellogg: Trump ‘actually trying to save Ukraine’
I also found some reassurance in remarks by Trump’s envoys on Ukraine/Russia and the Middle East this week.
Notably, Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (ret.), Trump’s envoy on Ukraine/Russia, said yesterday that Trump is seeking an end to the war that will save Ukraine and Ukraine’s sovereignty, but that reaching an enduring solution might take several months.
Trump “wants this war to end,” Kellogg told Fox News in an interview Wednesday. “And he knows it's a tough one. …but he's committed to it.”
“I'm on the clock,” Kellogg continued. “And he's on the clock as well, because he wants to end it as quickly as he can. …
“I think what people need to understand, he's not trying to give something to Putin or to the Russians,” Kellogg continued. “He's actually trying to save Ukraine and save their sovereignty, and he's going to make sure that it's equitable and that it's fair.”
“And I think they're going to come to a solvable solution in the near term,” he said. “And when I say, by the near term, you know, I would like to set a goal on a personal level, professional level, I would say, let's set it up 100 days and move our way back, and figure a way we can do this in the in the near term, to make sure that the solution is solid, it's sustainable.”
“I think that's going to be very important to do. It's going to be important for our national security. It's part of our bilateral interest, and it's also good for Europe as well, and the globe as well.”
Trump himself seemed to acknowledge this week that finding a solution to the Russian war on Ukraine would take longer and be tougher to “straighten out.”
“We're going to have to settle some big problems that are going on right now. We're going to have to settle up with Russia, Ukraine -- that's a disaster,” Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday.
“The cities are all blown up, the people have largely left, and the soldiers are killing each other at levels that haven't been seen since the Second World War,” Trump continued. “So, we'll have to get that one straightened out too. That's a tough one, much tougher than it would have been before it started, I can tell you that.”
He also had high praise for his Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff, who he brought to the podium at Mar a Lago Tuesday to offer a few remarks on multiparty efforts to reach an Israel/Gaza hostage release/ temporary ceasefire deal, ideally before the Inauguration.
“Well, I think we're making a lot of progress and I don't want to say too much because I think they're doing a really good job back in Doha,” Witkoff said. “I'm leaving tomorrow back to go to Doha. But I think that we've had some really great progress and I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.”
What came through is that for the sake of the lives of the hostages, the Biden and Trump teams are trying to both put their shoulders to the wheel to get this over the finish line as soon as possible.
At the end of his eulogy for Carter, Eizenstat recounted Carter’s efforts to secure the release of the American hostages held by Iran.
“Jimmy Carter did not lose Iran; the Shah did,” Eizentat said. “But the hostage crisis was a major factor in denying him a second term…because he placed the safe return of the hostages above his own political fortunes.” He “worked tirelessly even after his bitter reelection defeat to Ronald Reagan, securing their release on that last day of his presidency.”
“In the end, Jimmy Carter taught us all how to live a life fulfilled with faith and service,” Eizenstat said. “He said, ‘I have one life to live. I feel like God wants me to do the best I can do with it, to let me live my life so that it will be meaningful.’ Well, Mr. President, you’ve more than achieved that goal.”
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