Veteran Democratic Party strategist James Carville scorched young progressives in the Harris campaign, arguing that their role in scuttling her interview with Joe Rogan helped cost her the election.
A campaign official said earlier this month Vice President Kamala Harris backed out of appearing on “The Joe Rogan Experience” because of “concerns at how the interview would be perceived within the Democratic Party” and “backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it.”
Now, as numerous political commentators continue to debate how the Rogan snub hurt Harris, Carville blasted the influence of the staffers.
“The vice president was thinking about going on Joe Rogan’s show and a lot of the younger, progressive staffers pitched a hissy fit,” Carville said on Politicon Tuesday. “Supposedly the campaign said that wasn’t a determining factor, but they did.”
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville shredded progressive Democrats, arguing they helped sink Harris’ campaign.
The experienced campaign operative went on to explain how to deal with young staffers who try to assert their own opinions.
“When you put a campaign together and you hire young people to do work, let me tell you exactly what you tell these people. What I would tell them: ‘Not only am I not interested in your f—ing opinion, I’m not even gonna call you by your name. You’re 23 years old, I don’t really give a s— what you think,’” he said.
“And let me tell you another huge error, a huge f—ing error that was made is when people said, ‘Campaigns need to reflect progressive values.’ No, they don’t. No, they don’t. Campaigns are authoritarian by their nature,” Carville said.
“If I were running a 2028 campaign and I had some little snot-nosed 23-year-old saying, ‘I’m going to resign if you do this,’ not only would I fire that motherf—er on the spot, I would find out who hired them and fire that person on the spot!” he added. “I’m really not interested in your uninformed, stupid, jacka– opinion as to whether to go on Joe Rogan or not.”
Political commentator James Carville ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, US, on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024. There are about 50,000 people coming to Chicago during convention week, with expectations they will fill its hotels, bars and restaurants. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While Carville has said identity politics helped sink Harris’ campaign, some, like comedian Jon Stewart, argued this was not the case. Carville called them out, arguing that even if the Harris campaign downplayed wokeness, the fact Democrats ran on it for years was not forgotten by conservatives.
“You’re f—ing wrong! It was used! See in politics — in comedy, if you tell a bad joke, who gives a s—? You just tell a better joke and you throw the bad joke away. In politics, if you have a bad policy, particularly one as bad and stupid as this was, you may throw it away, but the other side gets to play. Understand that. This is a two-sided thing.”
Carville later lamented that many Democrats “had to lose the election because of the stupidity that we had in the early part of this decade. My heart goes out for you, all of you served your country and your party with great distinction, you should be remembered and and I’m sorry that these a–holes so much contributed to you losing your job.”
He then sarcastically argued that progressive Democrats got their wish at the cost of victory.
“I guess the progressives now have their dream,” Carville joked. “We’re more of a coastal party, and we’ve gotten rid of all these moderates, and maybe you can all sit around some coffee house in Lower Manhattan and celebrate how f—ing smart you all are.”
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Carville has argued for months in the lead-up to the election, and after Trump’s victory, that the Democratic Party needs to overhaul its messaging. Earlier this year, Carville made headlines when he warned that “preachy females” and “feminine” woke messaging were driving away male voters. After Trump’s victory, he has said Democrats have the “stench” of wokeness clinging to them.