James Carville whipped out the occasional expletive on Friday as he joined a burgeoning chorus of Republicans in condemning a recent wave of progressive and democratic socialist election victories.
“These people are so fucking stupid, I don’t know what to say about it,” said Carville in a video for Politicon. “So now we have this idea that these insurgent Democrats — and what is their solution? Is their solution to beat Republicans, to run against Republicans? No!”
He continued, “Their solution is to beat Democrats like they’re part of the problem.”
Carville, a former strategist for the Democratic Party, helped elect Bill Clinton to the presidency in 1992. He also aided in then-Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) unsuccessful run against then-President George W. Bush in 2004 and Hillary Clinton’s run against Donald Trump in the 2016 election. He also wasn’t able to accurately predict last year’s election.
On Friday, Carville blasted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as an “insurgent” figure for supposedly causing the “most catastrophic event of this century” in Clinton’s 2016 loss and argued that the “left-wing idiots” of today are similarly jeopardizing the Democratic Party’s chances.
“How did Trump win? I’ll tell you how, because goddamn Bernie Sanders is the reason that Donald Trump is president. You hear me?” he said. “Listen to me.”
An email released in 2016 by whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks revealed the Clinton campaign boosted Trump in a so-called “pied piper” strategy, however, in hopes of intentionally cultivating far-right candidates such as him to increase her chances of winning.
Carville argued that the Democratic Party isn’t to blame for the swath of dejected voters who have turned to its more progressive wing. He instead railed against Democratic socialists who believe the difference between both “establishment” parties isn’t significant enough.
He then warned voters not to “fall for the allure of false prophets,” singling out Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) for saying the progressive movement doesn’t need “party elites” such as Carville for “changes we have to bring forward in our party.”
“It’s not both parties’ fault!” Carville exclaimed Friday.
Catch the bulk of his tirade at the 3:12-minute mark:
“One party expanded health insurance, alright? Another party destroyed it. One party balanced the budget and created economic prosperity. The other party destroyed it,” he said. “One party brought about a deal with Iran’s nuclear program. Another party destroyed it.”
“I am a proud liberal,” Carville confirmed Friday. “I am not a leftist. I don’t believe you ought to break the thing up. I think the role of government is to help people, to be a partner with people, to help them get educated, to help them have retirement security.”
The candidates who won their primaries last month — democratic socialists Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, and progressive liberal Brad Lander — have all expressed similar hopes for the country while also criticizing the Democratic Party. They also all had the backing of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is himself a democratic socialist.