“Hey, everyone. I’m David Chalian, CNN’s Washington Bureau Chief and Political Director, and welcome to the CNN Political Briefing.
The world’s most exclusive fraternity, the club of living US presidents, gathered to say goodbye to a member, President Jimmy Carter. President Joe Biden gave a eulogy, and it was a charged moment as Donald Trump prepares to take back the White House.
Despite the somber moment, Trump didn’t hold back, speaking critically of Carter during a press conference earlier this week. However, a few of the living presidents have been sharply critical of Trump as well.
I’m joined by Tim Naftali, CNN’s presidential historian, to discuss this unique group of men in this moment. Tim, thanks for joining me.
As we saw the presidents gather, I was looking at the interactions, the body language, and the relationships. Most of the presidents club is known for civility and a sense of norms. I was curious to see how they greeted each other, and how they reacted to the eulogies and references to their periods in office.
Tim, what were you noticing about the interactions among the presidents?
Tim Naftali: Well, first, I was looking at the lip-reading and body language. Most of the presidents club is known for civility and a sense of norms. I was looking to see how they greeted each other, their relationship to the president-elect and the first lady, and the sense of comfort or discomfort. They seemed a little uncomfortable at George H.W. Bush’s funeral. I was looking to see if they felt a little more a part of the club as Trump becomes the first of the really of the club, if you will.
I also wanted to see how the presidents reacted to the eulogies and references to events of their periods in office. Jimmy Carter lived so long and remained active, so he was part of their presidencies, too, although not to a great extent, but in some cases, to a significant extent. I was also looking for one other thing – a very human element. Both Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were born in 1924. I noticed that George W. Bush would be taken back to his father’s funeral. I saw him tear up at least once. So, there are human elements. We have to keep in mind that presidents are humans, too.
And, of course, they’d all be thinking about their own funerals, planned or not, as they sit there. Three of the former presidents, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, are all 1946 babies, all 78 years old now, and it’s hard to imagine them not thinking about their own.
The presidents club developed after Richard Nixon. Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower didn’t have much time for each other. John F. Kennedy, for personal reasons, really connected presidents of different parties, partly because his dad was a good friend of Herbert Hoover’s. John F. Kennedy made a point during the Cuban Missile Crisis of calling Hoover and making clear he didn’t share that view of the presidency.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, has a different relationship with the presidency. He likes the trappings of power, but that doesn’t mean he buys into the sense of dignity and tradition and history that’s exemplified by the presidents club.
And yet, ten days from now, this club, maybe not every member of it, but in large part, will reconvene on the west front of the Capitol for the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president.
The presidency should not be someone’s personal property. You should not allow the slings and arrows and the scars that they may have created to define a presidency, to define your definition and how you inhabit the presidency. It’s absolutely the right thing to treat the incoming president as if he were Abraham Lincoln.
The U.S. presidency is stronger than it’s been for a long time. The Supreme Court has given the president more power by resolving gray areas in the Constitution than the president has overtly ever had. But the point is, I think the presidency, in terms of our constitutional decisions, is more powerful than it’s been for a long time.
And when I looked at the faces of those presidents today, I think the presidency is also larger and more durable than any single occupant.
The United States has acted at times hegemonically after World War II. But America had a sense, because it was fighting the Soviet Union, that it had to live up to certain ideals, because it wanted to present itself as different from the Soviets. Now, we didn’t always live up to those ideals. We fell short. But the goal was that our image, and that means our president’s image, should be that of someone who is seeking collective security to permit the flourishing of liberty and democracy.
And if the president-elect continues to talk about acquiring countries and areas without the support of those who live there, that president will be sending a signal to the world that no president has sent since the early 20th century, and that will not strengthen our presidency.
The sources of our power are not just the strength of our dollar, although that matters a lot. Or the number of nuclear warheads we have. It’s the soft power we have from the fact that many people around the world and many leaders look up to us because, for all of our flaws, we are the most powerful democracy that has ever existed in history. And if we start acting like our adversaries, we lose that moral high ground.
That’s it for this week’s edition of the CNN Political Briefing. We want to hear from you. Is there a question you’d like answered about the new Trump administration? Is there a guest you really want to hear from? Give us a call at (202) 618-9460, or send an email to CNNPoliticalBriefing@Gmail.com, and you might just be featured in a future episode of the podcast.”