How Dare Trump Win?

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

A long time ago, apparently outside the memory of most reporters. the otherwise failed administration of Jimmy Carter scored its one most memorable and worthy accomplishment – The Camp David Accords.  Carter brokered a peace deal between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin – a deal that has held until today.  I recall a sense of disbelief that Carter could do anything right.  I recall a hesitation to admit his success, fearing that somewhere in there was a mistake that would jump up and bite us.  I am sure a lot of other people had their doubts as well.  But everyone kept those doubts to themselves and bided their time, willing to let Carter succeed if he had in fact succeeded.  If only that were the case these days.

Just before the hostages were released. Kamala Harris wondered out loud if Israel had committed genocide.  Yesterday, as the hostages were being released, Anthony Blinken tried to take credit and Barack Obama could not bring himself to say President Trump’s name.  (Meanwhile, the host proclaimed it one of the greatest days in history.)

This is about lenses.  Back in the day of the Camp David Accords, everyone tried to look at events with the lens of  history and geopolitical accomplishment.  While a lot of people had a hard time believing that Carter could succeed, everyone wanted him to – the stakes were too big, too important.  But in these times it would seem that many people look through the lens of personal achievement – it is not about what happened, but about who did it and more importantly who gets credit for it.

Interestingly, in this current situation, there are many doubts about the deal holding.  While the doubt proper is not unlike the doubt I experienced around the Camp David Accords, its roots are very different.  Then I doubted the ability of President Carter to perform as advertised; these doubts are rooted in an utter and worthy lack of trust in Hamas.  And that is a problem for those that cannot see their way clear to acknowledge what happened yesterday.  They seem to be hoping the deal will fall apart so they can blame Trump.  But everyone knows that if it falls apart, it’ll be Hamas that makes it so, not Trump.  Everyone knows Trump knows how to make a deal.

Leading Democrats would be well served to embrace this situation for what it is.  For once they would look like adults.  In celebration they should let go the shutdown, burnishing their grown-up credentials.  Reagan still beat the daylights out of Carter in the election after the Camp David Accords.  One good deal did not a good presidency make.  If Trump is the man they think he is, they can give him this one – history most certainly will – and they can rely on him to screw up enough down the line to win in 2028.

But see that, in the end, is the problem.  Trump is not the man they think he is – and they know it.  Trump, all else aside, performs as he says he will.  Maybe if Democrats did the same electoral outcomes would be different.  Maybe if Democrats did likewise it would be more about events and less about “narrative.”  Maybe in such a situation history would look far more favorably on Democrats of this current period.