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Proceedings in Plains, Georgia, where Jimmy Carter, the thirty ninth President, has just arrived ahead of a service at the Baptist church where he spent every Sunday for decades. Joe, this will be a much smaller affair, and we are expecting a flyover in his honor, a Navy fly over which we can show you if you're with us on Bloomberg TV and YouTube. Of course, in his honor, and especially in consideration of his service in the US Navy, having attended at the.
Atal Academy Naval Academy graduate became a nuclear physicist and got into the submarine program in the United States Navy, which is not something I think a lot of people tend to remember or associate with our three ninth president. But this is just part of the process that, as you mentioned, Kaylee, began this morning in Washington, as we get down of this small town of Planes, Georgia.
Absolutely, and as we consider the proceedings in Planes, they of course follow the services here in Washington, d c. Earlier today at the National Cathedral. And our next guest to someone who was in attendance at that state funeral, Gene Harmon, is with us here on balance of Power, Chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy. Also served as Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet in the Carter administration. Jane, thank you so much for your time this evening, on
this day of morning. Can you just describe for us what that service was like today and how you saw Jimmy Carter remembered in those halls.
Of course I can.
I was sitting in the congressional sections and in the front several rows were six Supreme Court justices apropos of what you were just talking about, including the Chief just this and I thought that was extremely interesting and respectful. The leaders of the House were there, bipartisan Mike Johnson was there, and many many other dignitaries on a bipartisan basis. They service was pitch perfect. All the people who should
have spoken did and when President Biden spoke. He looked in the direction of President Trump, who was sitting in the audience near the front, and talked about character, character, character, That's what he kept saying. I thought it was a very strong speech. But the Carter grandsons hit it out of the park. They were magnificent. And my old friend from our college intern days, Stu Eisenstadt, defended Carter's record
in the White House. I was there, and I agree with Stu, and I'm so glad that he was invited to speak.
At the end, Andy Young, who.
Was extremely frail but was Carter's ambassador of the United Nations and a civil rights leader of major proportions in mayor of Atlanta, spoke. He had to be sort of heft onto his chair, but he spoke.
Without notes, and he spoke about a man who.
Grew up in a minority and he was white in a mostly black area where Plains, Georgia is, and as someone who visited planes after the Carter presidency. I thought that was an amazing thing. Let me just say a couple more things. I met my late husband, Sidney Harmon in the White House in the Roosevelt Room.
He had a position in the Carter administration too.
He was Deputy Secretary of Commerce, and Carter was very proprietary.
About all this.
And we married a few years later, and when I ran for Congress, the first office I had sought since junior high school treasurer, which I lost, Carter sent me five hundred dollars personal check with a note that said, you'll represent not only California, but the Carter family.
When we consider his legacy, it's really interesting. There is so much that you can look at here. And I've heard a lot today about domestic policy, about gas lines, right, I've heard about the malaise in this country. Of course, his relationship with the Middle East was incredibly important. Many people will point to the Iranian hostage crisis, but the Camp David Accords Jane are still in place today. Does he get credit for it?
It's right some yes, of course he does, and they
would never have happen. Credit deserve persistance, I would say no. Subsequent to his presidency, he took some positions in the Middle East and wrote a book which had a provocative title, including apartheid, and so I think some people backed off of this, but he went himself between the cabins at Camp David to keep the leaders in place, and Stu Eisenstadt in another form, described the fact that he gave Monocham began, and the Israeli leader, who was about to
leave and not sign the accord, personally signed pictures to all of his grandchildren, and that was the tipping point, and began said, oh, okay, I'll sign, but Sadad, the other leader, paid with his life for this later in time. So you know, Carter was amazingly persistent. Character was his major quality, along with humility. And I saw it in space when I worked for him, and when I watched him in his post presidency and basically kept knowing him.
It's something we need more than anything.
Else in Washington right now.
Well, when we consider that, Jane, and in the cathedral with you today were the five other living presidents, many of them political rivals, who were sitting next to each other in those pews, including Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Kamala Harris sitting just a few seats over having lost to Trump in November. Did you see in the cathedral today the kind of bipartisanship in this unique moment in American politics that we don't often get to see anymore.
I definitely saw that.
Well. Not only were Obama and Trump talking to each other, but the son of Mondale and Ford spoke. And to remind Gerald Ford was a Republican who lost to Jimmy Carter in nineteen seventy six, and his son, Steve gave an enormously appealing speech that Ford had written before he died. They agreed that they would write speeches for each other, and we're joking about who would die first, but at any rate, it talked about written by Gerald Ford, the
amazing friendship they developed, and that's what we need. I've seen that. You know, I've been in politics a long time. I was a Senate aide, and then a Carter aide, and then you know, in Congress for nine terms. I've seen, sadly the slippery slope away from bipartisanship. But that's what the American people want. They want people working together to solve hard problems. They don't want people blaming each other for not solving problems.
We're watching the remains of Jimmy Carter be transferred once again ahead of his service at the church in Plains, Georgia. A live shot here on Bloomberg's TV and on YouTube of the hearst that has brought him here. We just witnessed the flyover and as we saw the state funeral this morning, Kaylie, you've made the point that has well taken.
The contrast between these two services could not be greater. Jane, as we look at this moment, now what this means for his family members who traveled to Washington for the grandeur in the National Cathedral and now amongst themselves for this family moment.
This is the moment.
I mean, he was a Sunday school teacher, he was a preacher, he was a missionary, and that fueled his whole life. And this is where he should be, next to his wife, Rosalind. I think that's the plan, and the nod to all of his parts of his life I think was brilliant. I hope he'll let me say
a few words about the Los Angeles fire. May may I change the subject for a minute, because I'm from Los agit Antilus, and I'm still a resident of Venice, California, very near the area that was so impacted, and i have people closest to me who lost everything in that fire, and I just want to command not only the fire
service in the area. But President Biden today for speaking up and saying all expenses will be covered for one hundred and eighty days and taking some of the pressure off that area which is still under siege.
It's very very important.
To me personally to the people I love, and obviously this is where we should be spending money on catastrophes like this.
Well, it's your point as well, taken, Jane, and our thoughts are with everyone who has been effective as the affected as they're still trying to fight fires that in
some areas remain burning out of control. As you consider what the days and weeks to come will look like, knowing that Donald Trump will be coming in to the Oval office as well, Joe Biden can only do so much here, presumably especially in the recovery period, and Donald Trump has not had kind words to say about the handling of this entire situation on the part of Governor Gavin Newsom. How do you hope that the new administration moves forward and handling the aftermath.
Well, I think it's an early test.
Human beings of all stripes and all colors and all political flavors lost everything here. I don't think the fire discriminated between Democrats and Republicans. And yes, water has always been an issue in California, and yes there was some technical issue with fire hydrants and water, but the winds were too hard, too high for air cover to drop water from the air and that was a huge problem. And the blame game can be played later. The human game, or the human issue needs to be addressed now. And
that's what Joe Biden is doing. And I would guess that President Trump would stop just criticizing Governor Newsom and would want to provide this kind of aid. I think a lot of his supporters live in this area too. I'm sure that they do. And this is President this is what President Biden does well, and this is what President Carter did well.
You reach for humanity, I mean.
Human rights is a plank of our foreign policy, one that was carried on by Ronald Reagan, who beat Jimmy Carter because of Jimmy Carter and human rights and are.
At stake here.
Human lives are at stake here, and this is not a time to play politics.
Spending time with Jane Harman on Balance of Power here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. For those watching, we have a live view from inside the Marinatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where Jimmy Carter's remains are just now arriving. The service will begin shortly here, Jane, as we consider what we saw this morning in Washington, the moment of Donald Trump, the President elect, arriving at the National Cathedral and finding himself face to face with Mike Pence. They shook hands
and it appeared they had a few quick words. What did you make of the interaction and how important was that to happen today?
Well, it seems cool, but at least it happened outside my pens whom I served with for five terms, and got a hug. I mean, it's a shame that that relationship ended as it did basically on January sixth, four years ago. And it's a shame that that January sixth,
ever happened. And it's a good thing that we just witnessed the orderly transfer of power and this extraordinary, astonishingly beautiful, pitch perfect funeral to our thirty ninth president, who deserves all the acclaim possible for the way he conducted himself during his whole one hundred year lifetime.
All Right, Jane, thanks for being with us. Jane Harmon, chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, of course, former congresswoman who worked with Jimmy Carter in the White House, and joins us now after witnessing firsthand the services this morning at the National Cathedral and the state funeral of
President Jimmy Carter. As we've been showing you that church in Plains, Georgia where Jimmy Carter spent so much time teach Sunday school, the Maranatha Baptist Church, will be the scene of the smaller service that is to begin shortly here. The Missing Man formation that we saw fly over Plains, Georgia. Kind of the closing note from Washington today. Now it's up to Georgia and the Carter family.
Yeah, and everything that proceeds from here will be much more intimate than what we saw take place in Washington today, including if you were with us on Bloomberg TV or YouTube, you saw how much more humble this particular church looks like, complared it's compared to the grandeur of the National Cathedral here in Washington and the Pompham circumstance we saw here in d C. And yet this is where Jimmy Carter chose to spend his time every Sunday, where he made
sure to always get back to to teach Sunday school. It was obviously such a big part of his life and his beginnings which he stayed very much rooted to. And he will be laid to rest there in Georgia, next to his wife of seventy seven years, Rosalind Carter. And as we talk about, it's a peanut farmer who then rose to the office of the President of the United States. And yet he will end his time here on this earth, right back where he started.
That's right, having been eulogized by the sitting President of the United States, Joe Biden. This service will be highlighted by remarks from Tony Louden, Jimmy Carter's personal pastor, as Jimmy Carter comes home for the last time. The special edition of Balance of Power continues.
Stay with us.
I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines. This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and five pm. He's durn on Apple, Cockley and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station Just Say Alexa played Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Welcome back to Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and Radio. On this Thursday, the ninth of January, a national day of morning as the nation remembers the thirty ninth President Jimmy Carter, who was honored with a state funeral here in washing Rington, d c. Earlier today and has now arrived at the Marianantha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where a smaller service will be held before he is interned at his family plot in Plaines, next to his wife,
Rosalind Carter, for a wife of seventy seven years. A much more humble end to a day that has included a lot of pomp and circumstances. His life and legacy, one hundred years of it is remembered now.
We've talked a lot today throughout the day about the economic and cultural challenges facing the country during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. The malaise, as some people might remember it, or still call it, America needed something to feel good about. You go back to the mid seventies late nineteen seventies. That good thing arrived at the Winter Games in nineteen eighty Lake Placid, the Miracle on Ice when Team USA beat the Soviets, an upset and what has become known
as the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century. Kaylee were joined by the team's captain, who made the winning goal. And he's with us from the great city of Boston. Mike your IZIONI welcome to Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Sir.
It's a pleasure to spend time with you on such an important day. I wonder if you can start us off with your thoughts on Jimmy Carter as he's laid to rest today. You knew him well. I would suggest that he played a very important role in your life as you did in his.
Well.
You know, it's interesting when the President passed. The first thought that came in my mind was we were in the locker room. We had just beat Finland, we had won the gold medal.
Everybody was pretty excited.
And next thing you know, President Carter is talking to Herb Brooks, our coach, and he's done talking to Herb. Next thing, Herb hands me the phone and I'm like, oh, my god, I can't believe I'm going to be talking to the President.
And I remember his words. He said, tell the team how much I love them, and.
How proud I was of what we did and what we accomplished, and looking forward to seeing us the White House tomorrow. And then he said luck. And then I remember saying I will, and I said good luck to you too, and I just was like, oh my god, I just said good luck to the president.
It was incredible.
It was a member of a memory, a memory I will never ever ever forget. And then we you know, then we went to the White House the next day, and I'm sorry we went to the White House the next day. He sent the no he sent the plane to pick up all the Olympic athletes.
He brought us to the White House. He spoke to.
Everybody, and I just remember how genuine he was and how nice both him and and missus Carter were. I you know, I guess when you meet the President, you're expecting something different, and he seemed like a next door neighbor. He was very friendly, very cordial, and again, you know, very proud of what our team did and what we accomplished.
And as you mentioned at a very difficult time in our country, and we as a team didn't even know we were just playing hockey and then realized that this thing was was pretty big.
Well, So, with the benefit of hindsight, do you look back on that in nineteen eighty and then consider what we saw here in Washington today, a bipartisan display of a country coming together to remember an individual like Jimmy Carter and think about how it is these unique moments in history that maybe give everybody a refreshing dose of what we really need.
And look back on what, you know, what makes this country so great is people like President Carter, people who believe in this country and believe in all the great things that we have.
I know it's a difficult time for everybody.
It was a difficult time in nineteen eighty, but we found our way through it, and I think we can do that again. It's just, you know, people just got stop believing and stop respecting people and go back to some old fashioned values that I think we've lost. And I mean that to me was President Carter, and more so not so much while he was the president, but what he did after his presidency. I think he's probably more recognizing and appreciated for what he did later and
what he stood for as a man. And I think you know that's what we need now, is we need people just so let's let's get this act going. Let's get together again. We are so fortunate to be in the country that we live in. Let's let's start to get things right.
Start believing again. He says, Look, I can't imagine what it was like to get on Air Force one and to your point, a team of young men, you had no idea politically or probably culturally what this meant. So I want to know when you did and how long it suited for you to realize the significance of this. Was it when you stepped off Air Force one at Andrews Air.
Force Base, Right when we got off Air Force one and we're on our way to the White House, the lines of people that were waving flags and chanting USA, USA, And even now, I mean, if you saw the letters I still get in the mail from people from all different ages. And the funny, the funniest thing for me is when people still come up to me and they'll say I remember where I was when we won, And I always say, I didn't know you were on the team.
But that's what that moment was.
People felt proud to wave the flag again, and we were looking for something to feel good about and it.
Happened to be us.
And you know, my teammates and I to this day are just so proud of what we were able to accomplish. To do it in Lake Placid, there's no greater feeling than putting on a USA jersey, other than obviously, you know, representing the military, of being a firefighter or a police officer. But when you put a USA jersey on, it means something special. And when we were able to win and do it in front of our country, I think made it that much greater for us.
Well, and certainly it was a great moment for President Carter as well. And I wonder after those initial days and hours after the win, when he brought you to the White House you got to meet him and the first lady at the time, did you stay in touch after that? How long did Jimmy Carter keep tabs on the Miracle team.
I only saw him a few times over the years when he was no longer the president. I was at some events that he was at, and still, like I said, just very cordial very friendly and very kind, And I think that's a great trip to a man who obviously was the president of the United States, but never changed who he was as a person and the values that he had that he had and the love that he still had and has for this country.
Mike. The other side of the coin from the miracle on ice was the boycott of the Summer Games that same year. How did that make you and your teammates feel? What did that mean for the country?
Well, you know, to me, it was very difficult.
I remember one of the first questions I got when I got to the White House was from a reporter saying, well, what do you think about the boycott? And I'm thinking, we just want to go metal. Look, why don't you ask me about that? And I think it's clearly one of the toughest decisions the president had to make.
And you know, when you look back on it, you know who suffered. Our athletes suffered.
They didn't get an opportunity to compete, And clearly it was a big decision that the president and the government obviously had to make at the time. So it was frustrating as an athlete to have what we accomplished not have happened for our athletes who trained so hard for so many years to go there. But sometimes decisions have to be made, and the President made the one that he felt was.
Right for our nation and right for our athletes.
But you know, he still look back on that and realized how hard it was and for him to do that after taking so much pride and joy and what what we accomplished to have to not let our athletes go over and compete.
I'm sure with something that was very difficult.
Well, as you look back on it, though, considering the knowledge we now have of the decades that have followed, you ultimately think that was the right decision by President Carter.
Well, I guess no, because as an athlete, you wanted to see those athletes go. You know, they trained hard, many years of training just maybe for that one race, so that that one moment and to not give him the opportunity I think was was was hard and difficult, But I guess you know that's that's that's why he's the president and he has to make decisions like that.
But I would have liked to have seen the athletes go and compete, and especially go over and win, and and and and win in Russia would have been would have been pretty nice.
Yeah, yeah, like when you talked your neighbors in Winthrop, when you talk to your former teammates, or where you just kind of sit down and survey the political and cultural landscape in our country now. A lot of people think there are parallels to that time. Do we need another miracle on ice?
I don't know if anything can happen like that again, unless we went over and played the Soviets in another hockey game or something. But it's a political situation that hopefully our politicians can work together and become one big family again.
It's very frustrating.
You know, I have grandkids, and it's frustrating to see the diversity that we have in this country.
And I said this earlier. We live in the greatest country in the world.
And I hope we can get this thing back on track and get us back to where we belong and people believing in ourselves and people believing in each other, and you know, keep those miracles and keep those dreams alive.
Beautiful, all right.
We'll leave it on that note. Mike You Ruzione, captain of the nineteen eighty US men's Olympic Golden Metal winning hockey team, the Miracle on Ice team. Thank you so much for joining us as we remember the thirty ninth president of Jimmy Carter, whose presidency, of course only lasted four years, but that was an important moment in it and of course we consider today the forty four years
nearly that followed. As we are seeing here on Bloomberg TV and on YouTube live images inside the Baptist church in Plains, Georgia, where his smaller funeral service is underway.
To think that we would spend time today with Mike Irizioni and Chuck Lavell, Yeah, two different, very different worlds in American culture, says so much about the relationships that Jimmy Carter had in this country at the time and the impact that he made culturally far beyond politics. In Washington, I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lions in Washington. We're glad
you're with us. It's a different day. The stock market closed on a national day of mourning, and we've spent many hours together here as we now approach the final service in this long procession of tributes to the thirty ninth President of the United States. View on Bloomberg TV and on YouTube inside the church in Plains, Georgia, with
more to follow, including our political panel. Sarah Chamberlain and Jim Kessler will be with us ahead as we unpack what we've seen and learned today and look forward to what is next in Congress. Stay with us here on a special edition of the fastest show in politics. This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on Apple Corplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
The Thursday edition. I'd say, but it's really a special edition, as we've provided day long coverage live from Washington. The state funeral of Jimmy Carter now resolving in Plains, Georgia. As we have experienced each stage of this process together, it's now up to the Carter family and the people of Planes Georgia, Jimmy Carter's neighbors, to conclude the final stages of this process, as he is, in turn next
to the former First Lady in his former hometown. Kaylee, we have a lot more to talk about here with the way forward in Washington, because when we come back tomorrow it's going to be all about transition and confirmations.
Well, and as we consider Donald Trump's attendance with the other four living presidents at the services today, he took advantage of his time in Washington to start shaping what this is going to look like when he takes the
oath of office eleven days from now. Having met last night with Senate Republican leaders about budget reconciliation, knowing that the president elect and coming president has kind of three big buckets of things he wants to achieve in Congress, immigration policy, energy related policy, and then of course a massive tax package. Yes, the question is how all of that's going to get done, And I'm not sure we got a firm answer on that.
Well, we didn't. We've been asking for the better part of a week. As he says, one big beautiful bill. I think that's the preference in the US House. John Thune sees an opportunity to get an early win, do the rest, and on a much more complex piece of tax legislation. Here's what Donald Trump thought after he met with Senate Republicans yesterday.
Whether it's one bill or two bill, it's going to get done one way or the other.
I think there's a lot of talking about too, and there's a.
Lot of talking about one, but it doesn't matter.
The end result is the same.
We're going to get something done that's going to be reducing Jax's and creating a lot of jobs and all of the other things that you know about it.
But this was a really unified meeting.
So for more on what exactly is going to happen, here we turn to our political panel. Sarah Chamberlain is with US Republican Main Street Partnership President and CEO and Republican strategist, alongside Democratic strategist Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way. Thank you both for being here. Sarah, I'll come to you first. Is this is largely going to be dependent, it seems, on the decisions of congressional
leaders themselves. If Donald Trump isn't really willing to firmly put his foot down one way or another. So if the House has its way, what way does it go.
I think it's going to go with two bills. The Republican Ministry Partnership members would like one bill, but just the reality as it's probably going to end up being too though. They're going down this weekend to meet with the President and kind of talk through this, so we'll have a better understanding come Monday when they get back.
Jim Customer's great to have you back at the table, and part of our conversation here simple question who cares well?
It may not, because you know, the truth is it's very very rare for a president not to be able to get their reconciliation package. That's the term yes, of course, for this through a Congress in which they have majorities on both sides. The complication is on the House side, there's very little room for margin in terms of votes. On the Senate side, reconciliation is a very complicated process.
It's not complicated on the House side. So that's why there's a different strategy from the House and Senate leaders, because the complications are what's driving the Senate side, and the narrow vote margin is what's driving the House side.
But that narrow margin we're talking about assumes that it's only Republicans who are going to carry this thing over the finish line, Are there really no Democrats who are going to be willing to vote for, say, assault cap increase if an ultimate package is inclusive of that or border measures that it does seem they are more likely to support. Now, judging by the Lincoln Riley Act.
This week, it's possible. So there have been reconciliation packages that have been bipartisan, that happened under George W. Bush, that happened under Ronald Reagan. More often, it's not because they are going to There may be things in the bill that Democrats will say absolutely not. But I would say this, it's unlikely that Democrats provide the winning margin on a reconciliation bill. They might provide an additional mark on the bill, so you know, we'll see.
Speaker Johnson said that he might well make this official today.
Is this done?
We're going to do this in two chunks? And if that's the case, how quickly will the House get to the border?
Oh, they're going to get to the border right away. It's a number one issue for a couple weeks of the Absolutely, without question, it's the biggest issue of facing the country right now. I think one of the reasons we had of victory is because President Biden did not do anything on the border. So this is the number one issue the Republican Mis Street Partnership members want to get something done in immigration quickly. It potentially could potentially, but I don't I don't know if it's going to
get announced today. I still think the members are going to go through the weekend to talk with President Trump and Florida and see if we can figure it things out. I'm not sure there's all the votes there yet, you know, we still so. I would tell you Speaker Johnson has the hardest job in Washington, if not one of the hardest in the country. And we have some Republicans that I consider them not really to be Republicans that may still be known on the so we may need a
couple of Democrats, so there'd be some negotiation. Though I do think it will go through absolutely well.
And as we talk about the importance of the border, there's also been a lot of conversation ignited by Donald Trump this week about changing US borders. Frankly, as he's talking about Canada and Greenland and the Panama Canal, and the chair of the Main Street Caucus, Dusty Johnson, Sarah has put forward legislation to buy back the Panama Canal. Is this really serious?
It is they would like to for a lot of different reasons, one of them being trade. I mean, I hate to get into this too much on the day that President Carter is having his final service, but the reality is it was probably not the smartest thing that the late president did. And yes there is a big movement to try to buy back the canal for the security of the country, both economically as well as militarily.
Was struck jim by Jimmy Carter's Day one statement to other nations. We consider what Donald Trump plans for day one a statement that we do not seek to dominate or dictate to others. That was the baseline for Jimmy Carter, considering what we're about to see the contrast of taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. Are we being serious?
Well, it's interesting because if you look at Donald Trump's isolationists tendencies, that's also like we seek not to dictate. But those isolationist tendencies now seem to be gone, and the dominance tendency has arrived. And you know, I would just say on the Panama Canal, you know, reacquiring it
and Greenland for Heaven's sake. Like we have adversaries out there, they get to make their moves too, Like these moves aren't made in a vacuum, right, And so this to me, we are sleepwalking into conflict with other nations that may start only being economic, but they can be military eventually. Like this, to me, this does not bode well. I feel like we're sleepwalking into World War one.
Wow.
Well, and having this conversation on the day in which a president who warned, especially in the aftermath of his presidency about the evils of war that sometimes it may be necessary, but all the same evil. As we reflect on his legacy and not just the four years he spent in the White House gym, but the forty four years almost after and everything he has done, what is it that is going to leave the most lasting mark.
His legacy after being president is going to leave the lasting mark? His presidency was complicated, and you know, he had a better relationship with foreign leaders than he did with congressional leaders, and so you know, it was a tough presidency. Some not his fault, some mistakes of his own making. His career after his presidency is remarkable by any standard. And it's also it's not just a model
for former presidents. It's a model for anyone who leave leaves their main job and says I want to do something else with their life. Like it's really something to hold up and say, we can all do something ourselves after we leave the job that made us who we are or earned our living. So I think that's his legacy.
Sarahwayan on the legacy to the extent that you wish in the optics today inside the National Cathedral of every living American president sitting side by side.
So have tat fit humanity. I think is probably his greatest legacy. I worked a little bit on that and had the pleasure yesterday of going through and paying my respects. I mean, our townhouse is right there, so he went over and that was really moving, So he was great. I agree. The aftermath is better. Interesting seeing the dynamic of the former presidents, the first ladies, the vice president.
I mean, it was very interesting, but I found it almost as if they're like Trump started trying to fit in, and he certainly didn't do that the last time. He didn't even go to things last time. So he and President Obama were kind of I would say sharing, I mean sharing, right, they were sharing, talking a little bit. I found that to be fascinating because before, if you remember, if he even went at all, they kind of sat there, he and Missus Trump, and there wasn't much.
In our actions part of the establishment.
I think he's trying to be. I really do think he's trying to be. I think he's trying to be and I think that his presency will reflect that this time well.
And shaking hands with Mike Pence as well, another remarkable moment, especially considering we began this week marking January sixth, and considering what happened four years ago. Jim, when are we going to be presented with another moment like this in American politics where at least for a period of time all five of them can sit together civilly and at least put on the presentation of getting along.
Yeah, it's very very interesting. And the question is, like you use the word presentation, you know, presentation of getting along, And the question really is is this a move towards normalcy now that he's won the presidency, or is it we're going to take greenland, you know, and come up with some crazy really outside the realm of mainstream ideas. And look, I think there's a lot of folks that are hoping Donald Trump will be tempered and be what
we just saw at this memorial service. And I think there's others that fear that, like, well, maybe this is just presentation the word that you used, which I think is a good word.
We only have a minute left, Jim. It was almost exactly a decade ago. Jimmy Carter was asked about regrets and he said, I wish I'd sent one more helicopter to get the hostages. We would have rescued them and I would have been reelected. Was he right?
Possibly? You know, the Iran situation was one not of his making. You know, he inherited this situation, the Shah, you know, ill he leaves the country like this was not the crisis of his making. And that's what happens in presidencies. It's like the headlines you create and the headlines that are created for you. I don't know, but the four hundred and some days broadcast every single day super damaging.
How true?
Jim Kesler, Sarah Chamberlain, many thanks to both of you for being with us in a special day here in Washington, d c. As things now transition to Georgia.
Kayley, Yeah, the service is underway at the Baptist Church in Plans, Georgia. Once that concludes, the family will make its way to the Carter House where he will be interned next to his wife of seventy seven years, Rosalind Carter, bringing an end to a day that has been full of pomp and circumstance, and mostly of remembrance of the thirty ninth President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, who died at one hundred.
Years old, eulogized by Joe Biden today inside the National Cathedral, memorialized by many others, including his grandson Jason Carter, whose words will leave you with on this special edition of Balance of Power on Bloembird TV and Radio.
Essentially, he eradicated a disease with love and respect. He waged peace with love and respect. He led this nation with love and respect. To me, this life was a love story, from the moment that he woke up until he laid his head.
Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.