American Battleground: Trump and his quest for power prepare to confront the realities of winning

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.

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.