JONATHAN TURLEY: James Carville's latest tirade reveals the left's all-consuming politics of rage
In "Breaking Bad," the character Walter White explains to a major drug dealer why cheaper knockoffs of his signature Blue Sky methamphetamine are just not enough: "So… it’s grade-school tee-ball vs. the New York Yankees. Yours is just some tepid… off-brand, generic cola. What I’m making is classic Coke."
This week, veteran Democratic political strategist James Carville released his own uncut, undiluted classic product to a nation of rage addicts. Blue Sky rage.
What set off Carville was telling. He and others were outraged that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner to discuss areas of common ground. Such dialogue "with the enemy" is unthinkable in what I consider our "age of rage," particularly for someone like Carville. The political strategist who previously threatened that, once Democrats are back in power, Trump allies and institutions that enabled the president should be treated the same way as Nazi collaborators were after World War II.
Carville went into his signature berserker trance on his podcast, appropriately called the "Politics War Room": "These people are a pack of felons and traitors, and you do not meet with them! You do not meet with them. There’s only one thing you can do with people that you genuinely believe deep inside of every fabric of your body are a pack of thieves and a pack of traitors."
As usual, Carville delivers the line with the intensity of a man seconds away from a self-induced stroke. The message, however, is clear. Anyone seeking a middle ground or compromise is a traitor and will be dealt with the same way as Nazi collaborators once Democrats regain power.
What is really on display is rage politics. When you feed this addiction, you have to keep your product pure to avoid the pain of rage withdrawal. Carville is asking Democrats the same question as Walter White when asking whether they really want some cheap knockoff when they can have the real thing. Go with the classic. Go with the rage.
JEFFRIES' REPORTED MEETING WITH KUSHNER ABOUT POSSIBLE TRUMP COOPERATION DRAWS LEFT-WING BACKLASH
Over in what's become the social media safe space for liberals, BlueSky, Carville is being heralded as a prophet of furor. It was a perfect combination. BlueSky was created for liberals to remove themselves, particularly from X, because of conservatives returning to social media after years of censorship.
Many in the media saw BlueSky as the future, as they predicted the rapid death of X. It did not exactly work out that way.
Some liberal influencers proclaiming their abandonment of X never actually left, and many others have returned. BlueSky is now little more than a progressive boutique in comparison to X. It has an estimated 43 million users, as opposed to up to 600 million for X. (Monthly active users drop to around 27 million versus more than 300 million.)
In practice, BlueSky has developed a reputation for a largely liberal political culture and robust user-controlled moderation tools. It offers a protected zone for liberals to rave among themselves without the distraction of as many opposing views or voices.
JAMES CARVILLE BLASTS FAR-LEFT 'WHITE TURDS' AMONG DEMS WHO HE SAYS VALUE LENIN MORE THAN MLK
It is a social platform that is premised on the same "you do not meet with them" screed offered by Carville.
Recently, the seasoned strategist has lashed out at the far left of his party, such as Democratic Socialists, over their radical agenda. However, he and other establishment figures are primarily objecting to the fact that it appears these radical policies will not succeed in the upcoming midterm elections and return them to power.
Carville appears to have no problem trashing the system to secure and maintain power. He previously called for packing the Supreme Court but notably told Democrats not to actually talk about it: "If the Democrats win the presidency and both houses of Congress, I think on day one, they should expand the Supreme Court to 13. F— it. Eat our dust. Don’t run on it. Don’t talk about it. Just do it."
LEFT-WING PODCASTER BLASTS SCHUMER, JEFFRIES AS 'FASCIST COLLABORATORS'
Other Democratic leaders continue to try to co-opt the mob for their own uses. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed questions about the DSA platform to eliminate the presidency, the Supreme Court, and the Senate. These are small differences, according to Schumer, compared with the need to win elections: "Not everyone has the same exact view on every single issue."
One of those small disagreements is the very existence of the institution that Schumer so desperately wants to lead.
Carville and Schumer, however, appear to agree on the key element of the political strategy of keeping the rage alive. The greatest threat to that strategy is any dialogue between Democrats and their Republican neighbors. If reason were to break out before the elections, all could be lost.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
The effort reflects the fact that the rage in an age of rage eventually burns off. People look into a mirror on both sides and realize that we have become grotesque by yielding to the anger and hate. Once people start to talk with one another again, it is harder to hate so completely and blindly tap into the rage that hate traffickers need.
So Blue Sky rage is hitting the streets. The Classic Coke of hate is to be injected directly into the veins of a nation of rage addicts.
After all, as Walter White asked his fellow traffickers, "Do you really wanna live in a world without Coca-Cola?"