Source: CNN

The music is majestic. The setting is glorious. Many of the top power players from DC are in attendance, and the words of praise for the president up front are unending.

His name is Jimmy Carter. He died on the last Sunday in December at the age of 100.

“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me, and through his life, taught me, that strength of character is more than title or the power we hold,” President Joe Biden says to the hushed crowd of dignitaries, family members and friends in Washington’s National Cathedral. His words echo through the gothic arches over the flag-draped casket of the 39th president of the United States. “It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect. That everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves an even shot.”

For all the disparagement of Carter’s legacy after Ronald Reagan defeated him in 1980, many historians have reassessed in the years since. Now one speaker after another pays tribute to the lasting record of Carter’s single term: his elevation of human rights around the globe, his codification of environmental protections, his initiation of passing control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian people, striking the most significant Middle East peace deal in generations with the Camp David Accords, and a post-presidency of seemingly limitless service — building homes for the poor, eradicating diseases, preaching a gospel of inclusion and caring for all. As Biden puts it, his “character, character, character.”

Carter, a Democrat, beat Republican Gerald Ford to take the White House. In their post-presidencies they became close friends, talking nearly every day. Steven Ford delivers a eulogy written by his father before his own death nearly two decades ago. “It was because of our shared values,” he reads, “that Jimmy and I respected each other as adversaries even before we cherished one another as dear friends.”

Whether by design or not, many of the comments sound like reproaches to President-elect Donald Trump, who sits listening like a man in political purgatory. Although all the other former presidents are there talking and laughing with each other, most give Trump little more than a nod. He and former first lady Melania Trump are seated on the outside edge of the second row — behind Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, just in front of his own former VP, whom he is seeing for the first time since four years ago, when the mob at the US Capitol was shouting for the hanging of Mike Pence. In the exclusive club of former presidents, only Barack Obama, seated next to Trump, seems willing to visit with him.

In November, after Trump won, Obama issued a response saying, in part, “living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power.”

After their chat at church, Trump will say he and Obama “probably do” like each other. But Trump will also post a video of their moment with fake dialogue added to make it look like the two men were ridiculing Harris. The office of former first lady Michelle Obama, who did not attend the funeral where she would have been seated by Trump, soon announces she will break with tradition and not attend his inauguration. Then again, Trump is not standing on ceremony either. He didn’t attend Biden’s inauguration four years ago, and has lobbied for all the government flags at half-staff for Carter to be raised on Inauguration Day, cutting short the traditional period of respect and mourning.

Yet only a week and a half until the swearing-in, Trump is being battered on many fronts.

The Supreme Court, stacked with conservatives including three justices appointed by Trump, turns down his request to delay his sentencing in the New York hush money case in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The day after the Carter funeral, Judge Juan Merchan gives Trump an “unconditional discharge,” meaning he won’t go to jail or face a fine. But Trump must sit on a video feed to the court and listen while Merchan tells him the lack of punishment is only because of legal protections afforded to the office of the presidency —– not the man filling it — and those considerations “do not reduce the seriousness of the crime” for which Trump was convicted. Trump pleaded not guilty and has denied all wrongdoing.

Given a chance to speak, Trump repeats his claims of innocence and says, “This has been a very terrible experience.” Never mind that many political analysts believe Trump won a second term in some part because the court cases against him burnished his perpetual claim of being a victim.

Then the federal courts allow something else Trump’s lawyers fought to stop. Even though special counsel Jack Smith has dropped his prosecutions of the president-elect, the Justice Department is able to release to the public Smith’s report on what was uncovered by his election fraud investigation. Through more than 130 pages, it lays out the case that led to Trump’s indictment, insisting that “when it became clear that Mr. Trump had lost the election and that lawful means of challenging the election results had failed, he resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power.” Trump pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

Cracks in the MAGA coalition emerge

Beyond the courts, Trump is also facing widening fissures in his movement. The MAGA world may seem tightly bound by common goals, but with the White House nearly in hand, factions are beginning to clash.

Trump’s endless accusations that immigrants are taking American jobs have many of his followers eager for the mass deportations he has promised. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has even called a special session of the state legislature to prepare for the push on day one of the new administration. But Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will head up Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have enraged part of the base by insisting more — not fewer — foreign workers are needed, especially in well-paid technical fields. Musk says he will go to “war” to defend special visas for such highly skilled workers. On X, Ramaswamy slaps at sports-loving, TV-watching Americans when he hints that foreign engineers are better than native-born tech workers because “our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” Despite opposing such visas in his first term, Trump comes down on the side of Ramaswamy and Musk, saying foreign work visas — albeit a different kind — also help him find laborers for his golf courses and resorts.

But Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has opened another line of attack on Musk. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, Bannon called him a “truly evil guy,” and vowed to push him out of his prominent position in Trump land. At one point, Bannon told the paper, “He (Musk) should go back to South Africa. Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans … making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”

For his part, Musk is moving his target for government savings way back from the at least $2 trillion he initially mentioned. Now he calls that a “best-case outcome” and characterizes half as much as a good result.

Despite Trump’s pledge to reduce government spending during his first term, his tax cuts and his wish list of expenses pushed the national debt to a sharp new high. Then the pandemic made it worse. Republican budget hawks, quietly skeptical about all the faith others place in Trump’s economic prowess, are already agitating quietly against letting the self-proclaimed “King of Debt” go on another borrowing and spending spree this time around.

Much of the MAGA movement favors isolationism in world affairs, clinging to Trump’s repeated pledge to avoid involvement in foreign wars. But in addition to his sudden talk of possible military action in Greenland and Panama, some of his Cabinet picks — such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state — strike other insiders as too aggressive toward China and Russia, setting up unwanted tension that could lead to unexpected engagements.

For many White House watchers, all the potential conflicts smack of the roller coaster of chaos that at times typified Trump’s first term. Such clashes can derail any incoming president, and that concerns some supporters in his party who truly want him to be much more effective and successful this time — in part to seal the deal with voters who gave him his victory, and to do it in the narrow two-year window before the next midterms.

“This is a moment for him to begin acting on a lot of the policy promises he made for the future and increasingly solidify that electoral coalition,” Republican strategist Brad Todd tells CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Which raises a question: As Republicans cheer the many blue-collar voters from diverse backgrounds who shifted from being traditionally Democratic voters to embracing Trump, how prepared is Trump’s party to embrace them?

“This is the thing we are waiting to see,” Mara Liasson says on the “NPR News Now” podcast. “If they (Republicans) are really going to be a multi-ethnic, working-class party, are they going to raise the minimum wage? Are they going to pass bills that favor workers over corporate power? We don’t know.”

Trump, days from the White House, attacks his political opponents

When Trump is under pressure or too many questions are swirling around topics he’d rather avoid, he frequently goes on the attack, redirecting attention to a target of his choosing. This time, Trump spies something almost as far away on the US mainland as it can be from his home in Florida and soon-to-be home in Washington.

Cataclysmic wildfires have erupted across the northern end of Los Angeles, driven by near hurricane force winds and dry conditions. Homeowners have been put on the run, some with just minutes to spare, as the firestorms destroy thousands of houses, businesses, churches and school. Firefighters battle around the clock, to the point that hydrants are drained. While Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and local authorities struggle to support the effort, figure out ways to get more water where it is needed and help residents to safety, Trump attacks.

“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him,” Trump posts on Truth Social, “that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”

He says the Biden administration has exhausted FEMA funds. He rants that the Golden State’s emphasis on environmental concerns and misguided water policies are to blame. Local and state leaders will face plenty of questions about their preparations for the fires, but fact checkers quickly establish Trump’s claims are false.

Newsom bristles, then invites Trump to come see the damage for himself. “We must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” the governor writes in a letter. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans — displaced from their homes and fearful for the future — deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure a fast recovery and rebuild.”

Still, other Republicans pick up Trump’s line of attack and imply perhaps federal aid should be predicated on blue California making policy adjustments that red states would approve. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville says elected officials in California, and by proxy the communities they serve, “don’t deserve anything, to be honest with you, unless they show us they’re (going to) make some changes.”

Through it all, many firefighters on the front lines, including some who have lost their own homes, say the wildfires this time were so fierce nothing could have stopped them. And like so many residents and local officials, they plead for help for all who have lost loved ones, their homes, their towns — everything.

The fact that there are even doubts about federal aid coming in a timely manner adds to Democratic speculation that the new administration, backed by a malleable GOP Congress, may put a boot on the neck of every state, town, or person who does not readily bow to Trump’s demands. They have no proof of this, of course, but they have their fears.

Back in DC, the Biden administration is racing to shore up some of its policies, notably by signing a ban on future offshore oil drilling in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Biden did it in a way that would require congressional action before Trump could reverse it, but the executive orders and well-laid plans of any outgoing president can usually be quickly crushed by the incoming one. Biden did it to some of Trump’s projects, and Trump will undoubtedly do it to Biden’s.

The incoming president is preemptively complaining that the incumbent is laying political landmines to confound the plans of the new White House occupants, and it doesn’t help Biden that the final polls of his presidency show 3 in 5 Americans think his term was a failure. Trump, on the other hand, is entering office with some of the most positive ratings of his political career — enjoying much higher approval for his transition than he did eight years ago, according to CNN polling.

When outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken is asked on “CBS News Sunday Morning” what he thinks Trump will do on the international stage, he offers a calm, measured response. “For any of us to really speculate at this point I don’t think makes a lot of sense,” he says, “but what does make sense is to make sure that we give the next administration — we give the incoming Trump administration — the strongest possible hand for it to play around the world.” As if to punctuate the point, news soon breaks of Hamas and Israel agreeing to a deal the administration has pushed for months for a ceasefire and return of hostages. High in the reporting: the Biden and Trump teams worked together to make it happen.

Over on Capitol Hill, Trump’s Cabinet picks are being driven like tanks through the confirmation process. Democratic lawmakers are asking for more than one round of questioning in the hearings, especially with selections they consider problematic. Republican committee chairs are generally nodding, thanking them for their requests and rolling on as if nothing was said.

“Ultimately, these are job interviews for some of the most important jobs in our country,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren gripes. The Massachusetts Democrat has spent the day at the hearing for Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon pick, watching him dodge and parry questions about excessive drinking and sexism that he denies and whether he would resist an order by a president if it appeared to be illegal.

This was one of the nominations that pundits thought might not survive. But as Warren sits before the cameras at CNN that evening, approval seems almost certain. “Did we cause the Republicans to say, ‘You’re right, we are going to turn our backs on Pete Hegseth — or, more importantly, we’re going to stand up to Donald Trump’? No. Not a single one.”

So the smart money says Trump will probably get the team he wants, and with the presidency, House of Representatives and Senate all in Republican hands, his party will largely own whatever happens with the government over the next couple of years, at least. Trump will invariably blame stumbles on the opposition as most presidents do. But as much as he has promised to tear things down, it is not yet clear what he will build up, or how, or what it will cost.

The time to the inauguration can now be counted in hours.

The forecast calls for a chance of snow over the weekend, and perhaps the coldest Inauguration Day in 40 years, when Trump will raise his hand, vow to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” and once again become president of the United States. For some Americans that moment will represent the best hope for salvation for a nation they feel has become unmoored from the social and political values critical to success and foundational to patriotism. For others, the oath will be a point of sorrow as they dread the rise of what they feel is a transactional government, devoid of any real principles — a confederacy of dunces. And for still others in the great sea of Americans who don’t watch politics the way ardent partisans do, it will be simply a ceremony on a faraway stage; the kind communities have conducted across the ages as they have flung themselves toward the uncertain future, hoping for the best while trusting in the watching eyes of God, the steady hands of Atlas, the wisdom of humankind, or the quivering void of eternity.

Trump will face uncertainty too. Historians have consistently ranked him among the worst of all presidents. They have questioned his temperament, his moral character, and his tendency to provoke such passionate divisions that friends have stopped speaking and families have split up. When he rides down Pennsylvania Avenue, he will carry that legacy with him along with a new chance to rewrite that narrative if he wishes — through his deeds, his words and his bearing.

American voters gave him that chance. Now they will see what he gives in return.

See Full Web Article