Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville says President Donald Trump is walking into a trap of his own making with his midterm convention 'scam.'
Speaking on a Wednesday episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, Carville argued that the two-day Dallas gathering set for September 9-10 will only supercharge an already energized Democratic electorate while setting Republican money on fire. Carville called on Democrats to welcome the spectacle and push the media to cover it relentlessly.
"The stupidest s— I hear is we shouldn't give them platforms," Carville told The Daily Beast Podcast host Sarah Ewall-Wice. "And for God's sake, cover this convention wall to wall. It's the most beneficial thing we got going."
Carville described the event as a gift that will boost Democratic turnout, saying, "you're not gonna come up with any better news that's gonna excite...and irritate and turn out more Democrats."
Trump's midterm convention is a "giant scam" built to squeeze cash out of loyalists, Carville argued. House candidates face a $25,000 entrance fee, a roundtable seat with Trump runs $250,000, and donors who want a photo with the president must pay $88,600 more, according to an invitation obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
"How'd he come up with $88,600?" Carville said. "It's a giant scam. A seat costs a quarter of a million dollars... It's all a grift. It's all a scam. It's a giant money-making operation."
Carville said that Republicans are boxed in. They're unable to embrace Trump without alienating independents and unable to snub him without angering his base, Carville explained.
"They don't want to show up in one sense," Carville said. "But they know they can't disrespect the king in another."
The convention would only help a candidate in a "really hardcore Trump place," Carville said. "Maybe somebody from, like, North Louisiana, it might help them, or somebody from, you know, central Alabama."
At least 45 House Republican candidates and members told Politico on Wednesday they would skip the event, with dozens more declining to say whether they will attend.
The White House hit back at Carville, according to The Daily Beast. Spokesman Davis Ingle told The Daily Beast that Carville is "a stone-cold loser who suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome, and it has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain."
