Donald Trump, Jimmy Carter, and the end of an age when morality mattered in politics

The arrival of 2025 represents more than a change in the calendar. It is a changing of the guard.

Last week, when New York Judge Juan Merchan upheld President-elect Donald Trump’s 34-count felony criminal conviction, and scheduled sentencing for Friday, the stage was set for a new kind of politics. It is a politics where morality takes a back seat to personality, and where consequences never reach the rich and powerful.

Trump was convicted for falsifying business records in connection to a hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up her alleged sexual encounter with Trump — an encounter Trump denies. Judge Merchan has indicated that the sentencing will not include imprisonment. It’s the only practical solution, given Trump is set to take office on Jan. 20.

But the new year is about much more than Trump. It is about the swinging of the political pendulum, the scope of political change, and the legacies of two men who are polar opposites. For me, it’s hard to ignore that former President Jimmy Carter, who died last week at 100, was more than a past president. He was a representation of a political era.

Carter, who is being laid to rest this week, took center stage after one of the most corrupt presidencies we’ve ever seen. Richard Nixon, who took office on the promise to establish law and order, was plagued by scandal. The burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, the hiring and firing of a special prosecutor, and the beginnings of the war on drugs.

Threats of impeachment and an unfavorable U.S. Supreme Court decision ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation. By the time former Vice President Gerald Ford finished out Nixon’s term, America was ready to turn the page.

Perhaps that’s why, when Carter took office, the worst thing one could call a politician was a liar. Though we knew — based on our experience with Nixon and others — that politics was rife with dishonesty, candidates took great pains to portray themselves as moral figures who operated in service to the people. They wanted to be perceived as truth-tellers, and as long as they did so, they had a chance to win elections.

However, when Carter came along, the piety was not an act. It was his way of life, and though I was a child when Carter took office, I remember feeling there was something different about him. He spoke openly about his faith in a manner I’d never heard from an elected official before. This peanut farmer from Georgia, who taught Sunday school and spoke of being a born-again Christian, was utterly distinctive. He stood out among his political peers, and set a moral standard few others could reach.

As president, Carter appointed 41 women and a record 57 people of color to the federal bench, including a prominent Black Philadelphia judge named A. Leon Higginbotham. His U.S. Justice Department sued the City of Philadelphia, alleging that rampant police brutality took place under Frank Rizzo. He tried to use federal power to move us closer to racial equality.

However, Carter faced challenges of his own. His presidency was marred by oil shortages, high inflation, and a hostage crisis that cost him reelection. But he didn’t stop working for the people when he lost. Carter became an important diplomatic figure, helping to free an American from North Korea in 2010. He built houses for Habitat For Humanity, fought guinea worm disease in Africa, and won a Nobel Peace Prize along the way.

With Carter’s death and Trump’s ascension, the torch of morality has not been passed. It’s been extinguished.

In many ways, Carter’s actions after his presidency cemented his legacy as a man of character. But with Carter’s death and Trump’s ascension, the torch of morality has not been passed. It’s been extinguished.

In less than three weeks, we’ll turn leadership over to a man with 34 felony convictions. A man who was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. A man who made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements during his first term, according to the Washington Post.

We once celebrated those who turned away from immorality. Now we welcome a leader who seemingly suffered no political consequences after saying on the Access Hollywood tape, “When you’re a star, you can do anything” to women.

To be sure, this changing of the guard represents a shift in our values. It’s my hope that just as the political pendulum swung away from men of character like Jimmy Carter, it will someday swing back toward what is right.