From Carter to Trump: how did we get here?

A study in contrasts & the trajectory of an American empire in decline

Illustration by the Author

In the lineup of American presidents, few figures stand in starker contrast than Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump. These two radically divergent men, with their diametrically opposite lives and legacies, offer us a compelling lens through which to examine the evolution of American values and leadership over the past half-century.

Jimmy Carter’s story begins in the tiny Georgia town of Plains, where he was born into a family of peanut farmers in 1924. His early years were shaped by the Great Depression and the progressive values of his father, Earl Carter, who provided free medical care to poor African American families at a time when such kindness across racial lines was rare in the Deep South. As a boy, Jimmy worked alongside Black farmhands in his father’s fields, an experience that would inform his lifelong commitment to civil rights and human dignity.

After graduating from the Naval Academy and serving as a nuclear submarine officer, Carter returned home upon his father’s death to save the…