Political star gazing: Sally Barnes | Commentary

By Sally Barnes

Amidst the majesty of sights and sounds at Washington National Cathedral and the gathering of political titans, the incoming leader of the free world created the impression of a skunk at a garden party.

Thousands came to pay their last respects to former U.S. president Jimmy Carter but all eyes were on Donald J. Trump. Carter represented what is good about the past and Trump embodies fear in the hearts of millions about the future.

Carter is just the latest president whose state funeral brought America and world leaders together in this historic place to celebrate a political life well lived. Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, Ford, and George H. Bush have all been eulogized here and it’s where Woodrow Wilson is laid to rest. 

All five living U.S. presidents—three Democrats and two Republicans—were present, along with their vice presidents and other high-ranking officials.

Our own prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was pictured in the VIP section looking warily at Trump. He has much to be wary about with Trump lusting over our natural resources and threatening Canada’s sovereignty and economic stability.

The entrance of the towering, hand-holding Trumps, soon to be the First Couple again, caused a quiet stir among the crowd. They were the last of the former White House residents to arrive and seemed prepared for the frosty reception proffered and received.

Former president Barack Obama was seated next to Trump, and the twosome exchanged some pleasantries until Obama turned his attention to those behind him. 

Michelle Obama’s absence was probably not due to an earlier commitment or a sudden headache. She had worked tirelessly to elect Kamala Harris and prevent Trump’s return to the Oval Office. 

If looks could kill, Hillary Clinton’s expression and refusal to even acknowledge the presence of the Trumps would have caused the cancellation of the upcoming inauguration ceremonies. No doubt she had a flashback to when Trump stalked her on the stage during a 2016 presidential debate in a bitter contest that prevented her from becoming the first female U.S. president. Not to mention the names he has called her and all the other women who have had the nerve to cross him.

Trump found the civility to greet his former vice president, Mike Pence, who stood up and awkwardly shook his old boss’s hand while his wife, Karen Pence, remained seated and not in a greeting mood. She was no doubt recalling the June 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol when Trump-inspired insurgents roamed the halls searching for Mike Pence while a hangman’s noose hung outside. Pence had enraged Trump and his followers by refusing Trump’s demand that he refuse his responsibility as VP to certify the win of Joe Biden.

Trump has no truck for protocol or tradition when it doesn’t favour him.

Meanwhile, Melania Trump, wearing a long, severe black Valentino trench coat dress, arrived poker-faced. That expression remained fixed throughout the two-hour funeral service while members of the large congregation smiled and laughed at lighter moments and remembrances by the speakers.

It was clear that she wished to be anywhere else.

It would be difficult to find two presidents more unlike than Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump, and these differences were stressed in several eulogies.

Speakers praised Carter’s strengths, high standards and principles and urged others in public life to follow his good example. (Hello, Donald, are you listening??)

Carter was known for his civility, humility, faith, integrity, kindness, and belief in telling the truth. Contrast this with Trump’s bluster, anger, racism, misogamy, court convictions, egoism, lies, and need for revenge and retaliation.

The two families exist in different worlds. One is obsessed with power and wealth; the other is fixated with charity and compassion. 

Jimmy and his wife Rosalynn lived in the same house for most of their 77 years together. While the Trumps are a glamorous and ostentatious bunch, the Carters look and act like ordinary folks—warts and all.

Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia, on a farm without electricity or running water. He grew up as a white kid among a Black majority, worked in the cotton fields and on his father’s peanut farm, and ended up as a naval officer, nuclear engineer, world leader, and president.

He served as governor of Georgia and for only one term as president, and during that time eschewed the trappings of pomp and ceremony and shocked official Washington by becoming a close and lasting friend to former president and political opponent Gerald Ford. Political adversaries should not respect each other, according to the rules of the game.

Ford’s son read the obituary his late father had written for Carter’s funeral in which he recalled visiting the Carter farm in Plains with his wife. Jimmy greeted them at the door in cutoff shorts and well-worn Crocs. (Carter and Ford had an agreement they would prepare a eulogy for each other’s funeral.)

The Carter homestead, said Carter’s grandson, looked like Jimmy had built it himself. A shelf near the sink is where Rosalynn hung her used Ziploc bags to dry. 

The highlight of Carter’s presidential career was his role in achieving the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Carter’s greatest legacy will be the work he did with Rosalynn following his political career. They established the Carter Center in Plains and worked on the front lines in the poorest and most marginalized countries in the world to promote human rights, reduce hunger, and eradicate disease. The Carter family continues the work today.

For most of us, Jimmy Carter and the life he led for 100 years is downright saintly. The same will never be said about Donald Trump.

Did Trump learn anything from the prayers, inspiration, and wisdom exchanged at the Washington Cathedral? It’s doubtful because he hears only what he wants to hear and does only what will benefit him and his loyal pack of multibillionaire oddballs and misfits.

God help us all. 

Sally Barnes has enjoyed a distinguished career as a writer, journalist and author. Her work has been recognized in a number of ways, including receiving a Southam Fellowship in Journalism at Massey College at the University of Toronto.  A self-confessed political junkie, she has worked in the back-rooms for several Ontario premiers. In addition to a number of other community contributions, Sally Barnes served a term as president of the Ontario Council on the Status of Women. She is a former business colleague of Doppler’s publisher, Hugh Mackenzie, and lives in Kingston, Ontario. You can find her online at sallybarnesauthor.com.

The opinions expressed in the Commentary section are the opinions of the writers.

Don’t miss out on Doppler!

Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!

Click here to support local news