海角大神

At FDR's 'Little White House,' a portrait of Trump's starkly different worldview

President Roosevelt imagined an America of fearless optimism and global engagement at his Georgia hideaway. President Trump is challenging that worldview. But the place also shows how the times shaped both men.  

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gazed out from Dowdell鈥檚 Knob in April of 1945, he was greeted by a peaceful vista that contrasted, to its very horizon, with a bloodied and broken world.

The four-term president鈥檚 favorite picnic spot on the crown of Pine Mountain, historians say, helped soothe the guilt of war and, in part, inspired the groundwork for what came afterward 鈥� a remarkable stretch of relative world peace, policed by the might, and guided by the vision, of the United States.

Looking out on the same landscape this week, Jim Treadwell, a pseudonym for a local law enforcement officer who asked for anonymity to speak frankly, sees something darker: Danger sneaking through the hardwood groves below 鈥� whether Mexican gangs from nearby Columbus, Ga., or liberals moving to the Peach State countryside and making a fuss about protecting the wildlife.

To him, that clear-eyed appreciation of danger 鈥� combined with liberal overreaction 鈥� sums up the young presidency of Donald Trump.

鈥淚 lock the door when I go to bed at night,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all Trump wants to do. He wants to lock the door at night, and in the morning he鈥檒l unlock it and put the 鈥榦pen for business鈥� sign back out again.鈥�

Mr. Treadwell鈥檚 analogy echoes a broader sentiment taking root, which critics say diverges from many long-accepted norms in how Americans view and interact with the world. Where Roosevelt moved the country out of its post-World War I isolationism, Mr. Trump has promoted a nationalistic 鈥淎merica first鈥� philosophy built on darker views of 鈥渃arnage鈥� at home and threats abroad.

The shift comes at 鈥渁 complex age of turbulence and opportunity,鈥� when 鈥淎mericans are dissatisfied with their government and divided over their country鈥檚 role in this unsettled world,鈥� according to a recent report by RAND Corp., a security consultancy.

In the process, Americans like Treadwell 鈥� an independent who says he voted for Democratic Presidents Carter and Clinton 鈥� are putting stock in Trump to reassess Roosevelt鈥檚 legacy of fearless optimism and world leadership.

鈥淭here have only been a handful of true 鈥榬egime shifts鈥� in American political history, and perhaps the biggest one was FDR,鈥� says Brandon Weichert, a geopolitical analyst and founder of the Weichert Report, in Alexandria, Va. 鈥淲e are seeing one now with Trump. And it does come at a dark time. The elites don鈥檛 understand this dark vision, because to them the world is great.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to remember that every president is a product of their times.鈥�

Two different worldviews聽

For FDR, that meant engagement.

He championed trade deals that lowered tariffs and helped liberalize global trade. He pushed for United States membership in the World Court. And he played a crucial role in founding the United Nations after World War II.

Roosevelt used his inauguration to proclaim 鈥渢hat the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself 鈥� nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.鈥�

In a 1940 fireside chat, Roosevelt exhorted:

There are many among us who closed their eyes, from lack of interest or lack of knowledge; honestly and sincerely thinking that the many hundreds of miles of salt water made the American Hemisphere so remote that the people of North and Central and South America could go on living in the midst of their vast resources without reference to, or danger from, other continents of the world.

At his inauguration, Trump spoke of American 鈥渃arnage.鈥� With his executive powers, Trump has sought to build up America鈥檚 natural barriers, abandoning the Pacific trade deal, moving toward building a Mexico border wall, and trying to temporarily keep out citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Hope and humiliation聽

Warm Springs was a fount of Roosevelt鈥檚 hope. He built his rustic 鈥淟ittle White House鈥� here for its healing 82-degree spring.

But today, it also offers a more nuanced picture of Roosevelt 鈥� and his connections to Trump. Meriwether County, about an hour south of Atlanta, voted for Trump by 56 percent. And Bob Patterson, the pastor of the Warm Springs First Baptist Church and a life-long Roosevelt buff, has no doubt why Trump鈥檚 message plays well here: a sense of economic insecurity.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 no problem here in Meriwether County that 2,000 jobs wouldn鈥檛 solve,鈥� he says.

Scholars note some of the same tendencies in Trump and Roosevelt 鈥� both took on the courts, both pushed the boundaries executive authority in the name of national security, and both showed an ability to take advantage of emerging media (radio for Roosevelt, Twitter for Trump). But here in Warm Springs what binds them is their common touch.

As with Roosevelt, a large chunk of Trump鈥檚 base is self-described 鈥渃ommoners鈥� who feel they have a handshake deal with the president. Indeed, the dapper Hyde Park native made a deep and genuine connection with the 鈥渃ommon man鈥� here.

鈥淭rump revived FDR鈥檚 鈥榝orgotten man,鈥� 鈥� says Mr. Patterson. 鈥淗e reminded a lot of Americans that they have been deprived, left out, and forgotten.鈥�

A stark difference, of course, is that Roosevelt entered office with 25 percent unemployment compared with 4.9 percent unemployment today. That鈥檚 one reason Trump鈥檚 vision hasn鈥檛 been more broadly appealing, observers say.

鈥淲hen FDR talked about a country laid to waste by the Great Depression 鈥� he was describing a picture that all Americans were seeing.鈥� Today, however, many Americans don鈥檛 recognize Trump鈥檚 evocations of a 鈥渄ark 鈥楢merican carnage,鈥� 鈥� writes Linette Lopez for .

But for those who do recognize it, Trump and his senior adviser, Steven Bannon, have activated a mix of 海角大神 apocalyptic thought peppered with a sense of humiliation at the hands of foreigners. As Treadwell, the Georgia cop, says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e tired of two things: God being taken out of daily life and being laughed at behind our backs.鈥�

While Roosevelt spoke with optimism, Trump has proven masterful at pushing on the 鈥減ain points鈥� of shame and humiliation, says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael D鈥橝ntonio, author of 鈥淣ever Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success.鈥澛�

鈥淩oosevelt was worldly and sophisticated enough to have hope, but Trump ... finds no inspiration in the world,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why FDR called on people to open their hearts and Trump is calling on them to close them.鈥�

One view of the 'carnage'聽

Roy Orlinger looks like any good husband as he patiently waits outside a row of Warm Springs gift shops as his wife shops, eventually emerging with a couple of throw pillows.

The retired Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent recalls flying drug interdiction missions aboard a converted C-130 military plane, chasing drug runners out of the Georgia skies. After one plane dropped duffel bags of cocaine, agents located the cache 鈥� along with a cocaine-covered dead bear that had overdosed by licking the sucrose used to cut the drug.

鈥淭here is carnage,鈥� says Mr. Orlinger, pointing to violence perpetrated by gangs and Mexican drug-runners in cities such as Memphis and Chicago. To him, Trump is looking at the world bluntly and realistically. His embrace of Trump is not a rejection of Roosevelt, he says, but of President Obama, whom he believes 鈥渨as trying to destroy America from within.鈥�

To Orlinger, Trump鈥檚 deeper point is that patriotism will banish prejudice. 鈥淲e have to stop looking at race and start looking at each other as brothers and sisters,鈥� he says.

That is a key point of Trump鈥檚 appeal, says Robert McCurtain, a Wall Street analyst who specializes in consumer psychology.

鈥淟ike in FDR鈥檚 day, many [Trump voters] don鈥檛 view the United States as the cause of problems in the world and they do still believe the USA is a beacon for the oppressed,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he big qualifier could be that they want people who live in the USA to live under and by the rule of law.鈥�

To Orlinger and other Trump supporters, a focus on sovereignty isn鈥檛 a retreat from the world, but a reassessment of America鈥檚 place in it. After all, as Treadwell muses, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 wrong with putting America first?鈥�

For Patterson, the pastor, Trump鈥檚 willingness to fashion a new kind of presidency harks to Roosevelt, as well. The challenges facing the US might not be remotely on the scale of the Great Depression or World War II, but the perception is that they are 鈥� and that Trump is addressing that challenge.

鈥淪eriously, FDR should have been impeached, but instead he ended up being one of our greatest presidents,鈥� says Patterson. 鈥淧erhaps Trump can take that to heart.鈥�