Carville reflects on failed prediction that Harris would defeat Trump: 'Very depressing'
Democratic political strategist James Carville, who has been openly critical of the Harris campaign since Democrats' 2024 election losses, reflected on his failed prediction that Vice President Harris would win against President-elect Trump, calling it "very depressing."
In an interview Saturday with CNN's Michael Smerconish, Carville was asked about a recent op-ed in The New York Times in which he blamed the economy for the vice president's defeat, leaning heavily on his famous catchphrase: 'It's the economy, stupid."
The news host read a comment from a reader in response to the essay, who argued that the U.S. doesn't seem to base its vote on the character, honesty or decency of the candidate. The veteran strategist concurred.
"I totally agree with that person. It’s very depressing," Carville, who spent much of his career as an adviser to former President Clinton, responded in the interview, highlighted by Mediaite. "But if you’re doing political strategy, you know, if you have an airplane crash, you’ve got to go back and find out what went wrong. You don’t say, well, let’s just forget about it and move on."
"No, was the flap set in the right setting or, you know, was there something that the pilot didn’t pay attention to? I don’t know, but it is sort of depressing," he continued. "But, you know, Michael, there’s the simple, basic rule of politics is voters want an election about them. They don’t want an election about you or your opponent. And for too much, we lost that. I lost it myself."
Carville argued that Democrats gave Trump too much of the spotlight, leaving voter concerns and desires in the dark.
"We didn’t make it about voters. And that’s all. It’s never a good idea. And how could I, at 80 years old, been doing this for 50 years, lapse into that level of stupidity? You know, I’ve got to ask myself," he said.
"But I think we did. And, you know, let’s learn from this. It’s a disaster," Carville continued. "I agree, it’s depressing, but to have an event like this and not learn from it, I think is the biggest mistake we can make."
In a recent interview with The Hill's "Rising" show, Carville also slammed Democrats for bucking what he called "NPR language" — referring to language previously deemed "politically correct" — during the campaign cycle. These phrases, such as "defund the police" and "LatinX" were memorable.
“What you look for with politics revolves around things we call sticky, things that you remember, like ‘Defund the police,’ three stupidest words in the history of the English language,” he told guest host Niall Stanage. “But it stuck.”
The Louisiana Democrat has also been critical of the Harris campaign for its "unfathomable spending" which has been under scrutiny since she conceded the race to Trump.