carter is not stupid. He set up his carter center for international studies as a shadow state department which would allow him to carry HIS vision of relations out into the world.
Agree w you on your assessment of Carter. He blew his entire presidency by allowing himself to be paralyzingly ineffective over the Iranian hostage crisis. When the hostages were released over the mere perception of what Reagan would do, Carter appears to have given himself over to hatred, envy and bitterness. He’s spent the interim trying to tear others down in part to retaliate against the hand ‘fate’ dealt him in the WH, and in part to try to make his term look better by making others look worse.
His inner viciousness and nastiness shows in his face. I.e.: he made a choice [as to how to spend his post-POTUS yrs], and it was a very vile one.