
H-how dare you speak ill of the uwu smol bean that is Jimmy Carter?! Something something peanut farm something something.
Seriously though, yeah. Carter’s historic unpopularity and unwillingness to step aside are a big part of why the loss to Reagan was so overwhelming and why Reagan was able to do so much lasting harm to the country.
Oh yeah, for sure. Personally I see Carter as the “good version” if you can call it such a thing of the “Do-Nothing Democrat” if that makes sense. The thought that basically all Democrats have to do is be faithful stewards of the status quo and allow the arc of the universe to slowly bend towards justice. To tinker around the edges letting incrementalism and institutionalism carry them forward.
Then as time wore on more and more the Democrats would start saying “why shouldn’t I enrich myself a little? After all, all we really have to do is keep the institutions going and they’re doing that just fine on their own,” until you get to the ghouls of today. Where they’re there because they deserve to be there, and they deserve to be there because they’re there. All the while lining their own pockets and saying “Fuck you, I got mine,” to everybody else.