James Carville is not used to being wrong – about anything. However, a seismic shift over the years of Donald J. Trump must have messed with his dome. Specifically, he seems to have lost some of his skills as a kingmaker in the Democratic Party. Some might say Carville didn't quite roll with the changes in party values since his beloved Clintons were last contenders for the White House. He’s a little less the feared Ragin’ Cajun these days and a bit more a somewhat tolerated Spittin’ Kitten. He thought Harris would win. She lost dramatically, and Carville stuck to his message points from the 90s: "It's the economy, stupid."
In an op-ed piece for The New York Times, he crowed about how right he was all along: "I keep coming back to the same thing," the political savant said. "We lost for one very simple reason: It was, it is, and it always will be the economy, stupid."
And just like that, James Carville was wrong again. And – to confuse the situation even more – he walked back his words of warning after the midterm elections in 2022: "What went wrong is just stupid wokeness." He was onto something back then, but even that only scratches the surface.
Backdraft of Unrest
After the calmer climes of the 1980s, America began to experience a backdraft of unrest. In the late 90s and early 2000s, there were the anti-globalization protests. In 2011, it was Occupy Wall Street. Then Black Lives Matter rose from legitimate anger. But without leadership and structure, protests – once again – devolved into riots as “demonstrators” were allowed free rein to destroy by fire and violence to assuage pent-up anger. It was all encouraged and primed – and then bailed out – by the progressive left.
New members of Congress ascended with a lack of American values and understanding, attempting to dismantle every nook of traditional American life. Everyone seemed to be going “woke,” and Carville called it time and again. The bombastic strategist hinted at what a threat "wokeness" was years ago: "It's just really – has a suppressive effect all across the country on Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a 'woke' detox center or something," he said. "They're expressing a language that people just don't use, and there's backlash and a frustration at that."
Back in the more recent past, was Harris's stunning loss due to that backlash over woke policies? Possibly. We definitely can’t ignore the issue of border security and the Swamp critters’ desire to open the gates for all to come flooding through. It seemed human enough, the same protesters carrying signs reading "no one is illegal" and the salivating elite media promoting the open border policy. Until it came to their bubble, that is. Sanctuary cities turned on their leaders as more unvetted, undocumented young men were dropped off in Chicago, New York, and other self-righteous enclaves.
Democratic Party Ch, Ch, Ch, Cha Changes
James Carville is the same bombastic know-it-all-all (and some will insist he actually does) that he was in the golden era of Clinton politics. His advice to the family at the time was to communicate on a less than Rhodes Scholar level if the affable southern Democrat could have a chance against the blue blood George H.W. Bush. Clinton became relatable despite his wife Hillary angering men and women and a lot of Tammy Wynette fans. It was Bill Clinton's energy, smarts, and coolness that Americans gravitated to, and Bush seemed out of touch with the working class. Carville was in his element. But the kingmaker could not see past the political styles of the 90s.
Last spring, Carville infamously claimed that women were destroying the Democratic Party and any chance of a 2024 victory. "A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females,” he said. “Don't drink beer. Don't watch football. Don't eat hamburgers. This is not good for you – the message is too feminine." Of course, the fact that the party’s nominee when he made that prescient statement was still an old white guy named Joe Biden gave Carville some cover – but not enough. Women on both sides of the political spectrum took offense to the 1950s-style comment and beat him about the head and neck for a good couple of weeks.
But he eventually embraced a preachy female and rerouted his message on the media trail. Once the dust settled, Carville, certain of a Harris victory, was angry again at the party not following his 1992 campaign strategy. This is where Carville was on the mark: "If the country wants something different, you try to give the country something different," he said. Instead, the machine decided it would keep doing the same and force people to get on board. Welcome back, Donald Trump. No amount of media compliance in calling the Republican nominee a "threat to democracy" could counterbalance the fact that voters could not come up with a reason to vote for Harris.
Mr. Carville has stayed true to the ideological roots of the Democratic Party. It's his beloved party that has changed, and it began with Barack Obama and a wave of progressiveness that opened a portal that divided America between the haves and the have-nots, the elites and the working class. He's floundered about, calling out each outlandish stance the Democratic Party has embraced, but only after it’s too late to do any good. This is not the Democratic Party Mr. Carville knows and loves – and as long as the players and the game remain the same, he will continue to be wrong in the party's eyes and relegated to sweeping up on the weekend political shows in his hopes that common sense and sanity will be restored.
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