All posts tagged "james carville"

'The people are revolting!' James Carville reveals plan for Dems to exploit 'pure rage'

A Democratic strategist is laying out a plan for Democrats to weaponize voter frustrations in the 2026 midterm elections — starting with rage.

James Carville, a longtime Democratic strategist, wrote Monday in a New York Times opinion essay that it's now the time for Democrats to adopt the "most populist economic platform since the Great Depression."

"It is time for Democrats to embrace a sweeping, aggressive, unvarnished, unapologetic and altogether unmistakable platform of pure economic rage. This is our only way out of the abyss," Carville wrote.

The 81-year-old called out Trump's declining approval rating and described how Democrats can now seize the moment to help energize the party and fight back as "Trump and decades of corrupt and morally bankrupt Republican economic agendas have splintered the very heart of the American economy."

"Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill — even down-ballot Georgia Democrats — all won with soaring margins because the people are p---ed. And the people always point their anger at the party in charge. Rent is out of control. Young people can’t afford homes or pay student debt. We’re living through the greatest economic inequality since the Roaring Twenties," he wrote.

"President Trump has done nothing to curb the cost of what it requires to take even a breath in America today, the centerpiece promise of his 2024 campaign. The people are revolting, and they have been for some time," Carville added.

Carville argued that Democrats need to capitalize on the moment.

"With all this rage, we must also have a bold, simple policy plan — one that every American can understand," he explained.

He suggested that Democrats now pivot to focusing on raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour, making college tuition free, adding rural broadband as a public utility and shifting child care to a public good.

"And darn it, we should not fear that running on a platform of seismic economic scale will cost us a general election. We’ve already lost enough of them by being afraid to try. The era of half-baked political policy is over," Carville wrote.

'We ain't backing down': Famed Dem James Carville flags how to stop 'far-right's big play'

Famed Democratic pundit and media personality James Carville sounded the electoral alarm on Sunday, saying, "This ain't good."

Carville's pronouncement came in the form of an email sent on his behalf by the campaign for Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH).

"Folks, it’s James Carville. I’ve been around the block a few times and worked on a heck of a lot of campaigns. So believe me when I tell you: This ain’t good," he said of the Pappas race in NH. "John Sununu — yeah, those Sununus — jumped into the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire. And now the political eggheads have DOWNGRADED Democrats’ chances of winning there."

Translating for readers what that means in practice, Carville said, "Let me tell you what this means: If we don’t get off our butts and help Chris Pappas right now, we can kiss our chances of winning back the Senate majority goodbye."

"This isn’t some back-bench, no-name guy we’re up against. Sununu’s won a Senate seat before," according to Carville. "He’s got name ID, deep pockets, and Wall Street’s dark money machine ready to drown us in attack ads. This is the far-right’s big play, y’all — they know if they take New Hampshire, Democrats have no viable path to flipping the Senate."

He further added, "Chris Pappas is the real deal. I mean it. He’s won the toughest district in New Hampshire four damn times, and he knows how to bring folks together. But he cannot — cannot — do this alone."

He went on to say, "I’m mad as HELL that this race just shifted in the wrong direction — but that means it’s time to get serious. Chris is the only one who can hold this seat, but he needs a hell of a lot more firepower to fend off what’s coming."

"Let’s show these Republican bigshots that we’re not scared — and we sure as hell ain’t backing down," Carville added.

'Every reason to be scared': James Carville reveals his biggest midterm fear

Legendary Democratic strategist James Carville warned Trump foes had "every reason to be scared" that the president might "tamper" with the 2026 midterm elections to prevent Democrats from retaking the House and Senate, according to HuffPost.

Speculation abounds that Dems could be poised to do just that over the unpopularity of Trump's "big, beautiful bill" that cuts Medicaid and gives tax breaks to the wealthy. A congressional takeover could lead to new impeachment hearings.

Carville told The Jim Acosta Show, "I think what may happen, he’s going to see the writing on the wall in Virginia — this is what I think is going to happen — and New Jersey also.

“And he’s going to see retirements, and people are going to start coming in, and saying, ‘Since I know we’re getting ready to lose, I got to change and I got to get some distance.' And he’s going to see all that coming and I don’t put anything past him.”

Carville added that “nothing” would surprise him, and that Trump might even try to “call the election off” altogether.

Acosta called Carville's prediction some “scary s---” and agreed that Trump has proven in the past that he would go to great lengths to stay in power.

“He can think of things like that, that we can’t, because we’re not accustomed to thinking like that,” Carville said. “We always assume there’s going to be an election, in your case, ‘How do I cover the election?’ My case, ‘How do I affect the election?’”

Carville continued, "This is a whole new thing...You know, people come up to me all the time and say, ‘James, I’m really scared.’ I say, ‘You should be. You have every reason to be scared. Don’t kid yourself.’”

Read The HuffPost story here.

'Very harmful': James Carville turns the tables on 'uncomfortable' Fox News host

Noted Democratic strategist James Carville turned the tables on a Fox News host talking about Whoopi Goldberg's antics.

Fox News covered Goldberg's comparison of the U.S. to Iran, and the network's Will Cain raised the issue with Carville.

"I think you've got a bigger problem in the way the left talks about America," the host said.

Carville said that, while he's "not here to defend Whoopi Goldberg," you could add up everything she said and it wouldn't equal what GOP senator Mike Lee recently said. Carville was referring to Lee's controversial social media posts, seen as "mocking" the Democratic lawmaker who was murdered.

"If I took everything that they all said, it wouldn't amount to what Mike Lee said, who's actually a United States senator," Carville said. "Who actually said something very harmful and very hurtful, and has not apologized for it."

He added, "Bobby Kennedy is going to kill more people than any Cabinet member in all of history," referring to RFK Jr.'s positions on life-saving vaccines.

Liberal commentator Molly Jong-Fast posted the exchange on social media and wrote, "Good for [Carville]," leading a former journalist to describe the host as "uncomfortable."

Watch below or click the link here.

'I don't even like the Democratic Party': Even James Carville mad at post-Trump Dems

Democratic strategist James Carville sounded off on CNN about the current defeatist attitude consuming the Democratic Party following Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) capitulation on the GOP-crafted funding bill.

"I'm mad at the Democratic Party," Carville told Wolf Blitzer. "You see, when you lose an election — a party exists for one reason, and one reason only. And that is, to win the election. We lost, but there's nothing permanent about this."

Carville said he believed that Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) do have a plan.

"And, look, if this is not evident here in the next three or four months, then there will be an uprising within the Democratic Party. But, let's give 'em a chance, let's see what their plan and their strategy is," Carville said.

Blitzer asked about a new CNN poll showing just 29% of voters have a favorable view of the Democratic Party.

"That's an all-time low. What does this say about your party right now?" Blitzer asked.

ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

"Don't lose an election because Democrats will get mad at you," Carville quipped. He then declared, "I don't even like the Democratic Party. I do not like losing, and most Democrats feel the same way. If we start winning elections, that's going to come back."

"Trump's head of his council of economic advisers said growth in the first quarter was going to be 2.5%. Well, let's just, I don't know what it's going to be. Predictions about the future are especially hard, but I got a feeling these guys have no idea of what they're doing. And when these opportunities come forth, you have to seize these opportunities, and hopefully we do."

Carville pointed out, "The way to get the base back is to be clever and win, and show them that we got something going in our favor, and I think we can do that. But you you can't be emotional about this; you have to be strategic. We're in a really sticky wicket here. And I'm hopeful that Senator Schumer and Leader Jeffries, I think that is a good plan brewing in there. I really do. But the best plan is not going to be very good because we don't have the vote, we don't have the power."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Repeat loser' Trump should not scare Democrats: famed strategist James Carville

Democratic political operative James Carville is trying to calm jittery Democratic nerves ahead of next month's presidential election.

Writing in the New York Times, Carville makes the case that Vice President Kamala Harris will prevail in the 2024 presidential election even though polls currently show the race to be a dead heat.

One of Carville's biggest arguments is that her opponent, former President Donald Trump, has faced defeat on multiple occasions and has lost the popular vote in every election in which he has participated.

4:12RoxALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

"Trump is a repeat electoral loser," Carville writes. "This time will be no different."

He then documents how Trump not only lost the 2020 presidential election, but how Republicans in the Trump era have been dealt one defeat after another, including getting blown out in the 2018 midterm elections and suffering a historically weak midterm election performance in 2022.

"There simply do not seem to be enough voters — even in the battleground states — who turn out at Mr. Trump’s behest anymore when he’s simply preaching to his base," Carville posited. "He has not learned from his electoral losses nor done the necessary work to assemble a broad electoral coalition in 2024."

Carville then documents the massive fundraising disparity between Trump and Harris, who has raised more than $1 billion for her campaign.

And finally, Carville argues that his gut simply tells him Harris is on her way to victory.

"We are constantly told that America is too divided, too hopelessly stricken by tribalism, to grasp the stakes," he writes. "That is plain wrong. If the Cheneys and A.O.C. get that the Constitution and our democracy are on the ballot, every true conservative and every true progressive should get it too. A vast majority of Americans are rational, reasonable people of good will. I refuse to believe that the same country that has time and again overcome its mistakes to bend its future toward justice will make the same mistake twice. America overcame Mr. Trump in 2020. I know that we know we are better than this."

'Dead cat bounce!' Dem strategists crack up as they take turns bashing Trump and Vance

Two Democratic strategists made each other and a CNN host laugh Wednesday as they laid into J.D. Vance and Donald Trump ahead of next week's debate — with one saying Vance gave Trump a "dead cat bounce" and the other saying Trump will bring a playbook as "stale" as an eight-year-old, sun-soaked milk carton.

James Carville and Paul Begala, who helped President Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, joined CNN's "OutFront" with Erin Burnett to talk about the upcoming Sept. 10 debate, with Carville saying he fully expects Vice President Kamala Harris to "drag" Trump "all across the debate platform."

"I think she is very well prepared," he said. "I think his whole act is stale and is going to be exposed at this debate. I'm very optimistic and I'm not supposed to say that. I might have to eat my words, but I don't think I'm going to."

Begala told Burnett that Trump's signature playbook of attacks won't work at the debate.

"No way," he said, noting 75% of Americans want change and calling Harris "change incarnate."

ALSO READ: Dem leaders keep shrugging off Moms for Liberty — even as Trump keeps grooming them

Begala likened Trump's playbook to a "carton of milk" left in the sun for eight years.

"It's stale and it stinks and nobody wants it," he said.

When the strategists were asked their thoughts on Trump's running mate J.D. Vance, Begala walked back his previous suggestion that Trump may ditch Vance for someone like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Begala opined that Vance isn't funny "haha" but funny "strange."

"The guy can't even order a donut," said Begala, referencing a clip of Vance ordering the pastry.

Carville went even further, saying Trump got a "dead cat bounce" after picking Vance.

"That's exactly what he got," said Carville, to laughs from the panel. "He's got this turkey strapped around his neck and they're going to choke him with it. I promise you."

Begala finished with a piece of advice for Harris: "Don't be 81 years old."

Watch the clip below or at this link.

James Carville: Kamala Harris has agreed to an interview — now quit 'whining' critics

An outspoken Democratic strategist told critics of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris it's time to quit "whining."

Harris and running mate Tim Walz will sit down for their first joint interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash. The interview will air at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday.

Strategist James Carville was asked Tuesday on CNN's "The Situation Room" whether he thought the Harris-Walz campaign erred by waiting more than a month to sit down for an interview.

Carville, no stranger to blunt responses, replied: "Not in the least."

Harris has had just five weeks to cobble together a campaign, plan a convention and pick a vice president, he said.

ALSO READ: From Nixon to Trump: How the GOP has weaponized 'othering' for political gain

"She's going to sit down and do it. She's going to do it with Walz. By the way, Trump and Vance haven't been in the same state since the Republican convention," said Carville.

He added: "I think all of this whining about sitting down and doing a long-form interview or press conference — actually it just turns people off."

Carville gave CNN its "kudos" — she's a "big get," he said — but he expressed appreciation for not having to listen to what he called "garbage in the background" about Harris' reluctance to sit down with members of the media.

"Now she's doing it!" he said.

Watch the clip below or at this link.

'Something's going on at Mar-a-Lago': James Carville baffled by Trump campaign strategy

Democratic political operative James Carville this week expressed bewilderment at former President Donald Trump's campaign and its reaction to Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

During an appearance on Bill Kristol's podcast, Carville broke down Harris' strengths and weaknesses as a candidate before talking about what he sees as a completely flat-footed reaction from the Trump campaign.

"Something is going on at Mar-a-Lago and I'm not sure what it is," he said. "LaCivita, Susie Wiles, they’re not stupid. They’ve won elections before. And what's coming out of there is, you're right, they don't know where to go. They let it get away from them. It was like they got hit in the mouth... They didn't see this coming? If you or I were running that campaign, we'd say, look, there's three things that can happen: Biden drops out, it's Harris; Biden drops out it's an open [convention primary] thing... but you would have a plan that you would pull off the shelf."

ALSO READ: How Gaza protesters plan to roil the Democratic National Convention

What has been happening, Carville argued Thursday, shows no signs of such preparation.

"From what little I can read, they were just standing there feeling good about themselves and they got hit in the mouth," he said. "And there was no concerted, organized, thought-out reaction. Which is pretty amazing! It really is!"

Watch the video below or at this link.

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MAGA Senate hopeful defends 'mouthy' women complaint: James Carville hates them too

A controversial GOP-endorsed senatorial candidate who notoriously opined women have become "too mouthy" came up with a novel defense of the divisive claim: James Carville thinks so too.

Royce White — a former basketball player with ties to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and endorsed by the Republican party to challenge Sen. Amy Klobuchar — took to X Friday to share a video of Carville mouthing off to former MSNBC host Donny Deutsch about "preachy females."

"Did liberal icon and thought leader James Carville just say Democrat women have gotten too ‘mouthy’?" White wrote. "Hey New York Times, quick, misogyny!"

In fact, Carville's comment mirrors White's own, which was made last month to War Room podcaster Steve Bannon.

"We have a huge male problem...particularly in communities of color," Carville claims. "I think democratic culture has too many preachy females. It's too much don't eat hamburgers, don't watch football, wear a condom."

ALSO READ: Republican dodo birds have a death wish for us all

Deutsch bursts into laughter. Carville leans back.

"S---, leave me alone," Carville says. "I got a g--d---ed life to lead."

Carville argues that such rhetoric is "cosmopolitan condensation," which one can only assume was supposed to be cosmopolitan condescension as water vapors in urban settings are not known to make women "preachy."

Replied White to this interview, "You can’t make this up. I promise I don’t have a crystal ball over here, I’m just a regular guy."

It's been a big week for White. The senatorial candidate was seen publicly attacking a reporter who covered his outstanding $100,000 child support payment and an MSNBC host who commented on his latest social media blunder.

"You pencil necked dweeb," White roared at Keith Olbermann, who had called him "a "f---ing idiot."

The gaffe saw White mistakenly declare water fountains were proof that crime was out of control in Minneapolis.