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Speaker 2: Proceedings in Plains, Georgia, where Jimmy Carter, the thirty ninth President,
Speaker 2: has just arrived ahead of a service at the Baptist
Speaker 2: church where he spent every Sunday for decades. Joe, this
Speaker 2: will be a much smaller affair, and we are expecting
Speaker 2: a flyover in his honor, a Navy fly over which
Speaker 2: we can show you if you're with us on Bloomberg
Speaker 2: TV and YouTube. Of course, in his honor, and especially
Speaker 2: in consideration of his service in the US Navy, having
Speaker 2: attended at the.
Speaker 3: Atal Academy Naval Academy graduate became a nuclear physicist and
Speaker 3: got into the submarine program in the United States Navy,
Speaker 3: which is not something I think a lot of people
Speaker 3: tend to remember or associate with our three ninth president.
Speaker 3: But this is just part of the process that, as
Speaker 3: you mentioned, Kaylee, began this morning in Washington, as we
Speaker 3: get down of this small town of Planes, Georgia.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and as we consider the proceedings in Planes, they
Speaker 2: of course follow the services here in Washington, d c.
Speaker 2: Earlier today at the National Cathedral. And our next guest
Speaker 2: to someone who was in attendance at that state funeral,
Speaker 2: Gene Harmon, is with us here on balance of Power,
Speaker 2: Chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy. Also
Speaker 2: served as Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet in the Carter administration. Jane,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for your time this evening, on
Speaker 2: this day of morning. Can you just describe for us
Speaker 2: what that service was like today and how you saw
Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter remembered in those halls.
Speaker 4: Of course I can.
Speaker 5: I was sitting in the congressional sections and in the
Speaker 5: front several rows were six Supreme Court justices apropos of
Speaker 5: what you were just talking about, including the Chief just
Speaker 5: this and I thought that was extremely interesting and respectful.
Speaker 5: The leaders of the House were there, bipartisan Mike Johnson
Speaker 5: was there, and many many other dignitaries on a bipartisan basis.
Speaker 5: They service was pitch perfect. All the people who should
Speaker 5: have spoken did and when President Biden spoke. He looked
Speaker 5: in the direction of President Trump, who was sitting in
Speaker 5: the audience near the front, and talked about character, character, character,
Speaker 5: That's what he kept saying. I thought it was a
Speaker 5: very strong speech. But the Carter grandsons hit it out
Speaker 5: of the park. They were magnificent. And my old friend
Speaker 5: from our college intern days, Stu Eisenstadt, defended Carter's record
Speaker 5: in the White House. I was there, and I agree
Speaker 5: with Stu, and I'm so glad that he was invited
Speaker 5: to speak.
Speaker 4: At the end, Andy Young, who.
Speaker 5: Was extremely frail but was Carter's ambassador of the United
Speaker 5: Nations and a civil rights leader of major proportions in
Speaker 5: mayor of Atlanta, spoke. He had to be sort of
Speaker 5: heft onto his chair, but he spoke.
Speaker 4: Without notes, and he spoke about a man who.
Speaker 5: Grew up in a minority and he was white in
Speaker 5: a mostly black area where Plains, Georgia is, and as
Speaker 5: someone who visited planes after the Carter presidency. I thought
Speaker 5: that was an amazing thing. Let me just say a
Speaker 5: couple more things. I met my late husband, Sidney Harmon
Speaker 5: in the White House in the Roosevelt Room.
Speaker 4: He had a position in the Carter administration too.
Speaker 5: He was Deputy Secretary of Commerce, and Carter was very proprietary.
Speaker 4: About all this.
Speaker 5: And we married a few years later, and when I
Speaker 5: ran for Congress, the first office I had sought since
Speaker 5: junior high school treasurer, which I lost, Carter sent me
Speaker 5: five hundred dollars personal check with a note that said,
Speaker 5: you'll represent not only California, but the Carter family.
Speaker 3: When we consider his legacy, it's really interesting. There is
Speaker 3: so much that you can look at here. And I've
Speaker 3: heard a lot today about domestic policy, about gas lines, right,
Speaker 3: I've heard about the malaise in this country. Of course,
Speaker 3: his relationship with the Middle East was incredibly important. Many
Speaker 3: people will point to the Iranian hostage crisis, but the
Speaker 3: Camp David Accords Jane are still in place today. Does
Speaker 3: he get credit for it?
Speaker 5: It's right some yes, of course he does, and they
Speaker 5: would never have happen. Credit deserve persistance, I would say no.
Speaker 5: Subsequent to his presidency, he took some positions in the
Speaker 5: Middle East and wrote a book which had a provocative title,
Speaker 5: including apartheid, and so I think some people backed off
Speaker 5: of this, but he went himself between the cabins at
Speaker 5: Camp David to keep the leaders in place, and Stu
Speaker 5: Eisenstadt in another form, described the fact that he gave
Speaker 5: Monocham began, and the Israeli leader, who was about to
Speaker 5: leave and not sign the accord, personally signed pictures to
Speaker 5: all of his grandchildren, and that was the tipping point,
Speaker 5: and began said, oh, okay, I'll sign, but Sadad, the
Speaker 5: other leader, paid with his life for this later in time.
Speaker 5: So you know, Carter was amazingly persistent. Character was his
Speaker 5: major quality, along with humility. And I saw it in
Speaker 5: space when I worked for him, and when I watched
Speaker 5: him in his post presidency and basically kept knowing him.
Speaker 4: It's something we need more than anything.
Speaker 5: Else in Washington right now.
Speaker 2: Well, when we consider that, Jane, and in the cathedral
Speaker 2: with you today were the five other living presidents, many
Speaker 2: of them political rivals, who were sitting next to each
Speaker 2: other in those pews, including Barack Obama and Donald Trump,
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris sitting just a few seats over having lost
Speaker 2: to Trump in November. Did you see in the cathedral
Speaker 2: today the kind of bipartisanship in this unique moment in
Speaker 2: American politics that we don't often get to see anymore.
Speaker 4: I definitely saw that.
Speaker 5: Well. Not only were Obama and Trump talking to each other,
Speaker 5: but the son of Mondale and Ford spoke. And to
Speaker 5: remind Gerald Ford was a Republican who lost to Jimmy
Speaker 5: Carter in nineteen seventy six, and his son, Steve gave
Speaker 5: an enormously appealing speech that Ford had written before he died.
Speaker 5: They agreed that they would write speeches for each other,
Speaker 5: and we're joking about who would die first, but at
Speaker 5: any rate, it talked about written by Gerald Ford, the
Speaker 5: amazing friendship they developed, and that's what we need. I've
Speaker 5: seen that. You know, I've been in politics a long time.
Speaker 5: I was a Senate aide, and then a Carter aide,
Speaker 5: and then you know, in Congress for nine terms. I've seen,
Speaker 5: sadly the slippery slope away from bipartisanship. But that's what
Speaker 5: the American people want. They want people working together to
Speaker 5: solve hard problems. They don't want people blaming each other
Speaker 5: for not solving problems.
Speaker 3: We're watching the remains of Jimmy Carter be transferred once
Speaker 3: again ahead of his service at the church in Plains, Georgia.
Speaker 3: A live shot here on Bloomberg's TV and on YouTube
Speaker 3: of the hearst that has brought him here. We just
Speaker 3: witnessed the flyover and as we saw the state funeral
Speaker 3: this morning, Kaylie, you've made the point that has well taken.
Speaker 3: The contrast between these two services could not be greater. Jane,
Speaker 3: as we look at this moment, now what this means
Speaker 3: for his family members who traveled to Washington for the
Speaker 3: grandeur in the National Cathedral and now amongst themselves for
Speaker 3: this family moment.
Speaker 4: This is the moment.
Speaker 5: I mean, he was a Sunday school teacher, he was
Speaker 5: a preacher, he was a missionary, and that fueled his
Speaker 5: whole life. And this is where he should be, next
Speaker 5: to his wife, Rosalind. I think that's the plan, and
Speaker 5: the nod to all of his parts of his life
Speaker 5: I think was brilliant. I hope he'll let me say
Speaker 5: a few words about the Los Angeles fire. May may
Speaker 5: I change the subject for a minute, because I'm from
Speaker 5: Los agit Antilus, and I'm still a resident of Venice, California,
Speaker 5: very near the area that was so impacted, and i
Speaker 5: have people closest to me who lost everything in that fire,
Speaker 5: and I just want to command not only the fire
Speaker 5: service in the area. But President Biden today for speaking
Speaker 5: up and saying all expenses will be covered for one
Speaker 5: hundred and eighty days and taking some of the pressure
Speaker 5: off that area which is still under siege.
Speaker 4: It's very very important.
Speaker 5: To me personally to the people I love, and obviously
Speaker 5: this is where we should be spending money on catastrophes
Speaker 5: like this.
Speaker 2: Well, it's your point as well, taken, Jane, and our
Speaker 2: thoughts are with everyone who has been effective as the
Speaker 2: affected as they're still trying to fight fires that in
Speaker 2: some areas remain burning out of control. As you consider
Speaker 2: what the days and weeks to come will look like,
Speaker 2: knowing that Donald Trump will be coming in to the
Speaker 2: Oval office as well, Joe Biden can only do so
Speaker 2: much here, presumably especially in the recovery period, and Donald
Speaker 2: Trump has not had kind words to say about the
Speaker 2: handling of this entire situation on the part of Governor
Speaker 2: Gavin Newsom. How do you hope that the new administration
Speaker 2: moves forward and handling the aftermath.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's an early test.
Speaker 5: Human beings of all stripes and all colors and all
Speaker 5: political flavors lost everything here. I don't think the fire
Speaker 5: discriminated between Democrats and Republicans. And yes, water has always
Speaker 5: been an issue in California, and yes there was some
Speaker 5: technical issue with fire hydrants and water, but the winds
Speaker 5: were too hard, too high for air cover to drop
Speaker 5: water from the air and that was a huge problem.
Speaker 5: And the blame game can be played later. The human game,
Speaker 5: or the human issue needs to be addressed now. And
Speaker 5: that's what Joe Biden is doing. And I would guess
Speaker 5: that President Trump would stop just criticizing Governor Newsom and
Speaker 5: would want to provide this kind of aid. I think
Speaker 5: a lot of his supporters live in this area too.
Speaker 5: I'm sure that they do. And this is President this
Speaker 5: is what President Biden does well, and this is what
Speaker 5: President Carter did well.
Speaker 4: You reach for humanity, I mean.
Speaker 5: Human rights is a plank of our foreign policy, one
Speaker 5: that was carried on by Ronald Reagan, who beat Jimmy
Speaker 5: Carter because of Jimmy Carter and human rights and are.
Speaker 4: At stake here.
Speaker 5: Human lives are at stake here, and this is not
Speaker 5: a time to play politics.
Speaker 3: Spending time with Jane Harman on Balance of Power here
Speaker 3: on Bloomberg TV and Radio. For those watching, we have
Speaker 3: a live view from inside the Marinatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia,
Speaker 3: where Jimmy Carter's remains are just now arriving. The service
Speaker 3: will begin shortly here, Jane, as we consider what we
Speaker 3: saw this morning in Washington, the moment of Donald Trump,
Speaker 3: the President elect, arriving at the National Cathedral and finding
Speaker 3: himself face to face with Mike Pence. They shook hands
Speaker 3: and it appeared they had a few quick words. What
Speaker 3: did you make of the interaction and how important was
Speaker 3: that to happen today?
Speaker 5: Well, it seems cool, but at least it happened outside
Speaker 5: my pens whom I served with for five terms, and
Speaker 5: got a hug. I mean, it's a shame that that
Speaker 5: relationship ended as it did basically on January sixth, four
Speaker 5: years ago. And it's a shame that that January sixth,
Speaker 5: ever happened. And it's a good thing that we just
Speaker 5: witnessed the orderly transfer of power and this extraordinary, astonishingly beautiful,
Speaker 5: pitch perfect funeral to our thirty ninth president, who deserves
Speaker 5: all the acclaim possible for the way he conducted himself
Speaker 5: during his whole one hundred year lifetime.
Speaker 3: All Right, Jane, thanks for being with us. Jane Harmon,
Speaker 3: chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, of course,
Speaker 3: former congresswoman who worked with Jimmy Carter in the White House,
Speaker 3: and joins us now after witnessing firsthand the services this
Speaker 3: morning at the National Cathedral and the state funeral of
Speaker 3: President Jimmy Carter. As we've been showing you that church
Speaker 3: in Plains, Georgia where Jimmy Carter spent so much time
Speaker 3: teach Sunday school, the Maranatha Baptist Church, will be the
Speaker 3: scene of the smaller service that is to begin shortly here.
Speaker 3: The Missing Man formation that we saw fly over Plains, Georgia.
Speaker 3: Kind of the closing note from Washington today. Now it's
Speaker 3: up to Georgia and the Carter family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and everything that proceeds from here will be much
Speaker 2: more intimate than what we saw take place in Washington today,
Speaker 2: including if you were with us on Bloomberg TV or YouTube,
Speaker 2: you saw how much more humble this particular church looks like,
Speaker 2: complared it's compared to the grandeur of the National Cathedral
Speaker 2: here in Washington and the Pompham circumstance we saw here
Speaker 2: in d C. And yet this is where Jimmy Carter
Speaker 2: chose to spend his time every Sunday, where he made
Speaker 2: sure to always get back to to teach Sunday school.
Speaker 2: It was obviously such a big part of his life
Speaker 2: and his beginnings which he stayed very much rooted to.
Speaker 2: And he will be laid to rest there in Georgia,
Speaker 2: next to his wife of seventy seven years, Rosalind Carter.
Speaker 2: And as we talk about, it's a peanut farmer who
Speaker 2: then rose to the office of the President of the
Speaker 2: United States. And yet he will end his time here
Speaker 2: on this earth, right back where he started.
Speaker 3: That's right, having been eulogized by the sitting President of
Speaker 3: the United States, Joe Biden. This service will be highlighted
Speaker 3: by remarks from Tony Louden, Jimmy Carter's personal pastor, as
Speaker 3: Jimmy Carter comes home for the last time. The special
Speaker 3: edition of Balance of Power continues.
Speaker 6: Stay with us.
Speaker 3: I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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Speaker 1: flagship New York station Just Say Alexa played Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 2: On this Thursday, the ninth of January, a national day
Speaker 2: of morning as the nation remembers the thirty ninth President
Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter, who was honored with a state funeral here
Speaker 2: in washing Rington, d c. Earlier today and has now
Speaker 2: arrived at the Marianantha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where
Speaker 2: a smaller service will be held before he is interned
Speaker 2: at his family plot in Plaines, next to his wife,
Speaker 2: Rosalind Carter, for a wife of seventy seven years. A
Speaker 2: much more humble end to a day that has included
Speaker 2: a lot of pomp and circumstances. His life and legacy,
Speaker 2: one hundred years of it is remembered now.
Speaker 3: We've talked a lot today throughout the day about the
Speaker 3: economic and cultural challenges facing the country during the presidency
Speaker 3: of Jimmy Carter. The malaise, as some people might remember it,
Speaker 3: or still call it, America needed something to feel good about.
Speaker 3: You go back to the mid seventies late nineteen seventies.
Speaker 3: That good thing arrived at the Winter Games in nineteen
Speaker 3: eighty Lake Placid, the Miracle on Ice when Team USA
Speaker 3: beat the Soviets, an upset and what has become known
Speaker 3: as the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century. Kaylee
Speaker 3: were joined by the team's captain, who made the winning goal.
Speaker 3: And he's with us from the great city of Boston.
Speaker 3: Mike your IZIONI welcome to Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 5: Sir.
Speaker 3: It's a pleasure to spend time with you on such
Speaker 3: an important day. I wonder if you can start us
Speaker 3: off with your thoughts on Jimmy Carter as he's laid
Speaker 3: to rest today. You knew him well. I would suggest
Speaker 3: that he played a very important role in your life
Speaker 3: as you did in his.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 7: You know, it's interesting when the President passed. The first
Speaker 7: thought that came in my mind was we were in
Speaker 7: the locker room. We had just beat Finland, we had
Speaker 7: won the gold medal.
Speaker 6: Everybody was pretty excited.
Speaker 7: And next thing you know, President Carter is talking to
Speaker 7: Herb Brooks, our coach, and he's done talking to Herb.
Speaker 7: Next thing, Herb hands me the phone and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 7: my god, I can't believe I'm going to be talking
Speaker 7: to the President.
Speaker 6: And I remember his words. He said, tell the team
Speaker 6: how much I love them, and.
Speaker 7: How proud I was of what we did and what
Speaker 7: we accomplished, and looking forward to seeing us the White
Speaker 7: House tomorrow. And then he said luck. And then I
Speaker 7: remember saying I will, and I said good luck to
Speaker 7: you too, and I just was like, oh my god,
Speaker 7: I just said good luck to the president.
Speaker 6: It was incredible.
Speaker 7: It was a member of a memory, a memory I
Speaker 7: will never ever ever forget. And then we you know,
Speaker 7: then we went to the White House the next day,
Speaker 7: and I'm sorry we went to the White House the
Speaker 7: next day. He sent the no he sent the plane
Speaker 7: to pick up all the Olympic athletes.
Speaker 6: He brought us to the White House. He spoke to.
Speaker 7: Everybody, and I just remember how genuine he was and
Speaker 7: how nice both him and and missus Carter were. I
Speaker 7: you know, I guess when you meet the President, you're
Speaker 7: expecting something different, and he seemed like a next door neighbor.
Speaker 7: He was very friendly, very cordial, and again, you know,
Speaker 7: very proud of what our team did and what we accomplished.
Speaker 7: And as you mentioned at a very difficult time in
Speaker 7: our country, and we as a team didn't even know
Speaker 7: we were just playing hockey and then realized that this
Speaker 7: thing was was pretty big.
Speaker 2: Well, So, with the benefit of hindsight, do you look
Speaker 2: back on that in nineteen eighty and then consider what
Speaker 2: we saw here in Washington today, a bipartisan display of
Speaker 2: a country coming together to remember an individual like Jimmy
Speaker 2: Carter and think about how it is these unique moments
Speaker 2: in history that maybe give everybody a refreshing dose of
Speaker 2: what we really need.
Speaker 7: And look back on what, you know, what makes this
Speaker 7: country so great is people like President Carter, people who
Speaker 7: believe in this country and believe in all the great
Speaker 7: things that we have.
Speaker 6: I know it's a difficult time for everybody.
Speaker 7: It was a difficult time in nineteen eighty, but we
Speaker 7: found our way through it, and I think we can
Speaker 7: do that again. It's just, you know, people just got
Speaker 7: stop believing and stop respecting people and go back to
Speaker 7: some old fashioned values that I think we've lost. And
Speaker 7: I mean that to me was President Carter, and more
Speaker 7: so not so much while he was the president, but
Speaker 7: what he did after his presidency. I think he's probably
Speaker 7: more recognizing and appreciated for what he did later and
Speaker 7: what he stood for as a man. And I think
Speaker 7: you know that's what we need now, is we need
Speaker 7: people just so let's let's get this act going. Let's
Speaker 7: get together again. We are so fortunate to be in
Speaker 7: the country that we live in. Let's let's start to
Speaker 7: get things right.
Speaker 3: Start believing again. He says, Look, I can't imagine what
Speaker 3: it was like to get on Air Force one and
Speaker 3: to your point, a team of young men, you had
Speaker 3: no idea politically or probably culturally what this meant. So
Speaker 3: I want to know when you did and how long
Speaker 3: it suited for you to realize the significance of this.
Speaker 3: Was it when you stepped off Air Force one at
Speaker 3: Andrews Air.
Speaker 7: Force Base, Right when we got off Air Force one
Speaker 7: and we're on our way to the White House, the
Speaker 7: lines of people that were waving flags and chanting USA, USA,
Speaker 7: And even now, I mean, if you saw the letters
Speaker 7: I still get in the mail from people from all
Speaker 7: different ages. And the funny, the funniest thing for me
Speaker 7: is when people still come up to me and they'll
Speaker 7: say I remember where I was when we won, And
Speaker 7: I always say, I didn't know you were on the team.
Speaker 6: But that's what that moment was.
Speaker 7: People felt proud to wave the flag again, and we
Speaker 7: were looking for something to feel good about and it.
Speaker 6: Happened to be us.
Speaker 7: And you know, my teammates and I to this day
Speaker 7: are just so proud of what we were able to accomplish.
Speaker 7: To do it in Lake Placid, there's no greater feeling
Speaker 7: than putting on a USA jersey, other than obviously, you know,
Speaker 7: representing the military, of being a firefighter or a police officer.
Speaker 7: But when you put a USA jersey on, it means
Speaker 7: something special. And when we were able to win and
Speaker 7: do it in front of our country, I think made
Speaker 7: it that much greater for us.
Speaker 2: Well, and certainly it was a great moment for President
Speaker 2: Carter as well. And I wonder after those initial days
Speaker 2: and hours after the win, when he brought you to
Speaker 2: the White House you got to meet him and the
Speaker 2: first lady at the time, did you stay in touch
Speaker 2: after that? How long did Jimmy Carter keep tabs on
Speaker 2: the Miracle team.
Speaker 7: I only saw him a few times over the years
Speaker 7: when he was no longer the president. I was at
Speaker 7: some events that he was at, and still, like I said,
Speaker 7: just very cordial very friendly and very kind, And I
Speaker 7: think that's a great trip to a man who obviously
Speaker 7: was the president of the United States, but never changed
Speaker 7: who he was as a person and the values that
Speaker 7: he had that he had and the love that he
Speaker 7: still had and has for this country.
Speaker 3: Mike. The other side of the coin from the miracle
Speaker 3: on ice was the boycott of the Summer Games that
Speaker 3: same year. How did that make you and your teammates feel?
Speaker 3: What did that mean for the country?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, to me, it was very difficult.
Speaker 7: I remember one of the first questions I got when
Speaker 7: I got to the White House was from a reporter saying, well,
Speaker 7: what do you think about the boycott? And I'm thinking,
Speaker 7: we just want to go metal. Look, why don't you
Speaker 7: ask me about that? And I think it's clearly one
Speaker 7: of the toughest decisions the president had to make.
Speaker 6: And you know, when you look back on it, you
Speaker 6: know who suffered. Our athletes suffered.
Speaker 7: They didn't get an opportunity to compete, And clearly it
Speaker 7: was a big decision that the president and the government
Speaker 7: obviously had to make at the time. So it was
Speaker 7: frustrating as an athlete to have what we accomplished not
Speaker 7: have happened for our athletes who trained so hard for
Speaker 7: so many years to go there. But sometimes decisions have
Speaker 7: to be made, and the President made the one that
Speaker 7: he felt was.
Speaker 6: Right for our nation and right for our athletes.
Speaker 7: But you know, he still look back on that and
Speaker 7: realized how hard it was and for him to do
Speaker 7: that after taking so much pride and joy and what
Speaker 7: what we accomplished to have to not let our athletes
Speaker 7: go over and compete.
Speaker 6: I'm sure with something that was very difficult.
Speaker 2: Well, as you look back on it, though, considering the
Speaker 2: knowledge we now have of the decades that have followed,
Speaker 2: you ultimately think that was the right decision by President Carter.
Speaker 7: Well, I guess no, because as an athlete, you wanted
Speaker 7: to see those athletes go. You know, they trained hard,
Speaker 7: many years of training just maybe for that one race,
Speaker 7: so that that one moment and to not give him
Speaker 7: the opportunity I think was was was hard and difficult,
Speaker 7: But I guess you know that's that's that's why he's
Speaker 7: the president and he has to make decisions like that.
Speaker 7: But I would have liked to have seen the athletes
Speaker 7: go and compete, and especially go over and win, and
Speaker 7: and and and win in Russia would have been would
Speaker 7: have been pretty nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, like when you talked your neighbors in Winthrop,
Speaker 3: when you talk to your former teammates, or where you
Speaker 3: just kind of sit down and survey the political and
Speaker 3: cultural landscape in our country now. A lot of people
Speaker 3: think there are parallels to that time. Do we need
Speaker 3: another miracle on ice?
Speaker 7: I don't know if anything can happen like that again,
Speaker 7: unless we went over and played the Soviets in another
Speaker 7: hockey game or something. But it's a political situation that
Speaker 7: hopefully our politicians can work together and become one big
Speaker 7: family again.
Speaker 6: It's very frustrating.
Speaker 7: You know, I have grandkids, and it's frustrating to see
Speaker 7: the diversity that we have in this country.
Speaker 6: And I said this earlier. We live in the greatest
Speaker 6: country in the world.
Speaker 7: And I hope we can get this thing back on
Speaker 7: track and get us back to where we belong and
Speaker 7: people believing in ourselves and people believing in each other,
Speaker 7: and you know, keep those miracles and keep those dreams alive.
Speaker 5: Beautiful, all right.
Speaker 2: We'll leave it on that note. Mike You Ruzione, captain
Speaker 2: of the nineteen eighty US men's Olympic Golden Metal winning
Speaker 2: hockey team, the Miracle on Ice team. Thank you so
Speaker 2: much for joining us as we remember the thirty ninth
Speaker 2: president of Jimmy Carter, whose presidency, of course only lasted
Speaker 2: four years, but that was an important moment in it
Speaker 2: and of course we consider today the forty four years
Speaker 2: nearly that followed. As we are seeing here on Bloomberg
Speaker 2: TV and on YouTube live images inside the Baptist church
Speaker 2: in Plains, Georgia, where his smaller funeral service is underway.
Speaker 3: To think that we would spend time today with Mike
Speaker 3: Irizioni and Chuck Lavell, Yeah, two different, very different worlds
Speaker 3: in American culture, says so much about the relationships that
Speaker 3: Jimmy Carter had in this country at the time and
Speaker 3: the impact that he made culturally far beyond politics. In Washington,
Speaker 3: I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lions in Washington. We're glad
Speaker 3: you're with us. It's a different day. The stock market
Speaker 3: closed on a national day of mourning, and we've spent
Speaker 3: many hours together here as we now approach the final
Speaker 3: service in this long procession of tributes to the thirty
Speaker 3: ninth President of the United States. View on Bloomberg TV
Speaker 3: and on YouTube inside the church in Plains, Georgia, with
Speaker 3: more to follow, including our political panel. Sarah Chamberlain and
Speaker 3: Jim Kessler will be with us ahead as we unpack
Speaker 3: what we've seen and learned today and look forward to
Speaker 3: what is next in Congress. Stay with us here on
Speaker 3: a special edition of the fastest show in politics. This
Speaker 3: is Bloomberg.
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Speaker 3: The Thursday edition. I'd say, but it's really a special edition,
Speaker 3: as we've provided day long coverage live from Washington. The
Speaker 3: state funeral of Jimmy Carter now resolving in Plains, Georgia.
Speaker 3: As we have experienced each stage of this process together,
Speaker 3: it's now up to the Carter family and the people
Speaker 3: of Planes Georgia, Jimmy Carter's neighbors, to conclude the final
Speaker 3: stages of this process, as he is, in turn next
Speaker 3: to the former First Lady in his former hometown. Kaylee,
Speaker 3: we have a lot more to talk about here with
Speaker 3: the way forward in Washington, because when we come back
Speaker 3: tomorrow it's going to be all about transition and confirmations.
Speaker 2: Well, and as we consider Donald Trump's attendance with the
Speaker 2: other four living presidents at the services today, he took
Speaker 2: advantage of his time in Washington to start shaping what
Speaker 2: this is going to look like when he takes the
Speaker 2: oath of office eleven days from now. Having met last
Speaker 2: night with Senate Republican leaders about budget reconciliation, knowing that
Speaker 2: the president elect and coming president has kind of three
Speaker 2: big buckets of things he wants to achieve in Congress,
Speaker 2: immigration policy, energy related policy, and then of course a
Speaker 2: massive tax package. Yes, the question is how all of
Speaker 2: that's going to get done, And I'm not sure we
Speaker 2: got a firm answer on that.
Speaker 3: Well, we didn't. We've been asking for the better part
Speaker 3: of a week. As he says, one big beautiful bill.
Speaker 3: I think that's the preference in the US House. John
Speaker 3: Thune sees an opportunity to get an early win, do
Speaker 3: the rest, and on a much more complex piece of
Speaker 3: tax legislation. Here's what Donald Trump thought after he met
Speaker 3: with Senate Republicans yesterday.
Speaker 8: Whether it's one bill or two bill, it's going to
Speaker 8: get done one way or the other.
Speaker 6: I think there's a lot of talking about too, and
Speaker 6: there's a.
Speaker 4: Lot of talking about one, but it doesn't matter.
Speaker 9: The end result is the same.
Speaker 2: We're going to get something done that's going to be
Speaker 2: reducing Jax's and creating a lot of jobs and all
Speaker 2: of the other things that you know about it.
Speaker 6: But this was a really unified meeting.
Speaker 2: So for more on what exactly is going to happen,
Speaker 2: here we turn to our political panel. Sarah Chamberlain is
Speaker 2: with US Republican Main Street Partnership President and CEO and
Speaker 2: Republican strategist, alongside Democratic strategist Jim Kessler, executive vice president
Speaker 2: for policy at Third Way. Thank you both for being here. Sarah,
Speaker 2: I'll come to you first. Is this is largely going
Speaker 2: to be dependent, it seems, on the decisions of congressional
Speaker 2: leaders themselves. If Donald Trump isn't really willing to firmly
Speaker 2: put his foot down one way or another. So if
Speaker 2: the House has its way, what way does it go.
Speaker 8: I think it's going to go with two bills. The
Speaker 8: Republican Ministry Partnership members would like one bill, but just
Speaker 8: the reality as it's probably going to end up being
Speaker 8: too though. They're going down this weekend to meet with
Speaker 8: the President and kind of talk through this, so we'll
Speaker 8: have a better understanding come Monday when they get back.
Speaker 3: Jim Customer's great to have you back at the table,
Speaker 3: and part of our conversation here simple question who cares well?
Speaker 10: It may not, because you know, the truth is it's
Speaker 10: very very rare for a president not to be able
Speaker 10: to get their reconciliation package. That's the term yes, of course,
Speaker 10: for this through a Congress in which they have majorities
Speaker 10: on both sides. The complication is on the House side,
Speaker 10: there's very little room for margin in terms of votes.
Speaker 10: On the Senate side, reconciliation is a very complicated process.
Speaker 10: It's not complicated on the House side. So that's why
Speaker 10: there's a different strategy from the House and Senate leaders,
Speaker 10: because the complications are what's driving the Senate side, and
Speaker 10: the narrow vote margin is what's driving the House side.
Speaker 2: But that narrow margin we're talking about assumes that it's
Speaker 2: only Republicans who are going to carry this thing over
Speaker 2: the finish line, Are there really no Democrats who are
Speaker 2: going to be willing to vote for, say, assault cap
Speaker 2: increase if an ultimate package is inclusive of that or
Speaker 2: border measures that it does seem they are more likely
Speaker 2: to support. Now, judging by the Lincoln Riley Act.
Speaker 10: This week, it's possible. So there have been reconciliation packages
Speaker 10: that have been bipartisan, that happened under George W. Bush,
Speaker 10: that happened under Ronald Reagan. More often, it's not because
Speaker 10: they are going to There may be things in the
Speaker 10: bill that Democrats will say absolutely not. But I would
Speaker 10: say this, it's unlikely that Democrats provide the winning margin
Speaker 10: on a reconciliation bill. They might provide an additional mark
Speaker 10: on the bill, so you know, we'll see.
Speaker 3: Speaker Johnson said that he might well make this official today.
Speaker 9: Is this done?
Speaker 3: We're going to do this in two chunks? And if
Speaker 3: that's the case, how quickly will the House get to
Speaker 3: the border?
Speaker 8: Oh, they're going to get to the border right away.
Speaker 8: It's a number one issue for a couple weeks of
Speaker 8: the Absolutely, without question, it's the biggest issue of facing
Speaker 8: the country right now. I think one of the reasons
Speaker 8: we had of victory is because President Biden did not
Speaker 8: do anything on the border. So this is the number
Speaker 8: one issue the Republican Mis Street Partnership members want to
Speaker 8: get something done in immigration quickly. It potentially could potentially,
Speaker 8: but I don't I don't know if it's going to
Speaker 8: get announced today. I still think the members are going
Speaker 8: to go through the weekend to talk with President Trump
Speaker 8: and Florida and see if we can figure it things out.
Speaker 8: I'm not sure there's all the votes there yet, you know,
Speaker 8: we still so. I would tell you Speaker Johnson has
Speaker 8: the hardest job in Washington, if not one of the
Speaker 8: hardest in the country. And we have some Republicans that
Speaker 8: I consider them not really to be Republicans that may
Speaker 8: still be known on the so we may need a
Speaker 8: couple of Democrats, so there'd be some negotiation. Though I
Speaker 8: do think it will go through absolutely well.
Speaker 2: And as we talk about the importance of the border,
Speaker 2: there's also been a lot of conversation ignited by Donald
Speaker 2: Trump this week about changing US borders. Frankly, as he's
Speaker 2: talking about Canada and Greenland and the Panama Canal, and
Speaker 2: the chair of the Main Street Caucus, Dusty Johnson, Sarah
Speaker 2: has put forward legislation to buy back the Panama Canal.
Speaker 2: Is this really serious?
Speaker 8: It is they would like to for a lot of
Speaker 8: different reasons, one of them being trade. I mean, I
Speaker 8: hate to get into this too much on the day
Speaker 8: that President Carter is having his final service, but the
Speaker 8: reality is it was probably not the smartest thing that
Speaker 8: the late president did. And yes there is a big
Speaker 8: movement to try to buy back the canal for the
Speaker 8: security of the country, both economically as well as militarily.
Speaker 3: Was struck jim by Jimmy Carter's Day one statement to
Speaker 3: other nations. We consider what Donald Trump plans for day
Speaker 3: one a statement that we do not seek to dominate
Speaker 3: or dictate to others. That was the baseline for Jimmy Carter,
Speaker 3: considering what we're about to see the contrast of taking
Speaker 3: control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. Are we being serious?
Speaker 10: Well, it's interesting because if you look at Donald Trump's
Speaker 10: isolationists tendencies, that's also like we seek not to dictate.
Speaker 10: But those isolationist tendencies now seem to be gone, and
Speaker 10: the dominance tendency has arrived. And you know, I would
Speaker 10: just say on the Panama Canal, you know, reacquiring it
Speaker 10: and Greenland for Heaven's sake. Like we have adversaries out there,
Speaker 10: they get to make their moves too, Like these moves
Speaker 10: aren't made in a vacuum, right, And so this to me,
Speaker 10: we are sleepwalking into conflict with other nations that may
Speaker 10: start only being economic, but they can be military eventually.
Speaker 10: Like this, to me, this does not bode well. I
Speaker 10: feel like we're sleepwalking into World War one.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: Well, and having this conversation on the day in which
Speaker 2: a president who warned, especially in the aftermath of his
Speaker 2: presidency about the evils of war that sometimes it may
Speaker 2: be necessary, but all the same evil. As we reflect
Speaker 2: on his legacy and not just the four years he
Speaker 2: spent in the White House gym, but the forty four
Speaker 2: years almost after and everything he has done, what is
Speaker 2: it that is going to leave the most lasting mark.
Speaker 10: His legacy after being president is going to leave the
Speaker 10: lasting mark? His presidency was complicated, and you know, he
Speaker 10: had a better relationship with foreign leaders than he did
Speaker 10: with congressional leaders, and so you know, it was a
Speaker 10: tough presidency. Some not his fault, some mistakes of his
Speaker 10: own making. His career after his presidency is remarkable by
Speaker 10: any standard. And it's also it's not just a model
Speaker 10: for former presidents. It's a model for anyone who leave
Speaker 10: leaves their main job and says I want to do
Speaker 10: something else with their life. Like it's really something to
Speaker 10: hold up and say, we can all do something ourselves
Speaker 10: after we leave the job that made us who we
Speaker 10: are or earned our living. So I think that's his legacy.
Speaker 3: Sarahwayan on the legacy to the extent that you wish
Speaker 3: in the optics today inside the National Cathedral of every
Speaker 3: living American president sitting side by side.
Speaker 8: So have tat fit humanity. I think is probably his
Speaker 8: greatest legacy. I worked a little bit on that and
Speaker 8: had the pleasure yesterday of going through and paying my respects.
Speaker 8: I mean, our townhouse is right there, so he went
Speaker 8: over and that was really moving, So he was great.
Speaker 8: I agree. The aftermath is better. Interesting seeing the dynamic
Speaker 8: of the former presidents, the first ladies, the vice president.
Speaker 8: I mean, it was very interesting, but I found it
Speaker 8: almost as if they're like Trump started trying to fit in,
Speaker 8: and he certainly didn't do that the last time. He
Speaker 8: didn't even go to things last time. So he and
Speaker 8: President Obama were kind of I would say sharing, I
Speaker 8: mean sharing, right, they were sharing, talking a little bit.
Speaker 8: I found that to be fascinating because before, if you remember,
Speaker 8: if he even went at all, they kind of sat there,
Speaker 8: he and Missus Trump, and there wasn't much.
Speaker 3: In our actions part of the establishment.
Speaker 8: I think he's trying to be. I really do think
Speaker 8: he's trying to be. I think he's trying to be
Speaker 8: and I think that his presency will reflect that this
Speaker 8: time well.
Speaker 2: And shaking hands with Mike Pence as well, another remarkable moment,
Speaker 2: especially considering we began this week marking January sixth, and
Speaker 2: considering what happened four years ago. Jim, when are we
Speaker 2: going to be presented with another moment like this in
Speaker 2: American politics where at least for a period of time
Speaker 2: all five of them can sit together civilly and at
Speaker 2: least put on the presentation of getting along.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's very very interesting. And the question is, like
Speaker 10: you use the word presentation, you know, presentation of getting along,
Speaker 10: And the question really is is this a move towards
Speaker 10: normalcy now that he's won the presidency, or is it
Speaker 10: we're going to take greenland, you know, and come up
Speaker 10: with some crazy really outside the realm of mainstream ideas.
Speaker 10: And look, I think there's a lot of folks that
Speaker 10: are hoping Donald Trump will be tempered and be what
Speaker 10: we just saw at this memorial service. And I think
Speaker 10: there's others that fear that, like, well, maybe this is
Speaker 10: just presentation the word that you used, which I think
Speaker 10: is a good word.
Speaker 3: We only have a minute left, Jim. It was almost
Speaker 3: exactly a decade ago. Jimmy Carter was asked about regrets
Speaker 3: and he said, I wish I'd sent one more helicopter
Speaker 3: to get the hostages. We would have rescued them and
Speaker 3: I would have been reelected. Was he right?
Speaker 10: Possibly? You know, the Iran situation was one not of
Speaker 10: his making. You know, he inherited this situation, the Shah,
Speaker 10: you know, ill he leaves the country like this was
Speaker 10: not the crisis of his making. And that's what happens
Speaker 10: in presidencies. It's like the headlines you create and the
Speaker 10: headlines that are created for you. I don't know, but
Speaker 10: the four hundred and some days broadcast every single day
Speaker 10: super damaging.
Speaker 9: How true?
Speaker 3: Jim Kesler, Sarah Chamberlain, many thanks to both of you
Speaker 3: for being with us in a special day here in Washington,
Speaker 3: d c. As things now transition to Georgia.
Speaker 2: Kayley, Yeah, the service is underway at the Baptist Church
Speaker 2: in Plans, Georgia. Once that concludes, the family will make
Speaker 2: its way to the Carter House where he will be
Speaker 2: interned next to his wife of seventy seven years, Rosalind Carter,
Speaker 2: bringing an end to a day that has been full
Speaker 2: of pomp and circumstance, and mostly of remembrance of the
Speaker 2: thirty ninth President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, who
Speaker 2: died at one hundred.
Speaker 3: Years old, eulogized by Joe Biden today inside the National Cathedral,
Speaker 3: memorialized by many others, including his grandson Jason Carter, whose
Speaker 3: words will leave you with on this special edition of
Speaker 3: Balance of Power on Bloembird TV and Radio.
Speaker 9: Essentially, he eradicated a disease with love and respect. He
Speaker 9: waged peace with love and respect. He led this nation
Speaker 9: with love and respect. To me, this life was a
Speaker 9: love story, from the moment that he woke up until
Speaker 9: he laid his head.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
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