James Carville
Appearances
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2144 - More Trump WINS: Joy Reid GONE!
What I've said very publicly, Democrats need to play possum. This whole thing is collapsing. It doesn't need Elizabeth Warren and somebody screaming to pacify some progressive advocacy groups in Washington, which, by the way, I wish these people were just useless. They're actually worse than useless, that they're detrimental. And they never, ever learn to shut up.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2144 - More Trump WINS: Joy Reid GONE!
And so, Dan, this is what I believe. I believe that this administration, in less than 30 days, in the midst of a massive collapse... and particularly a collapse in public opinion.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
No speeches in cadence, no groups of threes, no contrast in pairs, no if not us, who, if not now, when we stand on the precipice, you know, the depth of the abyss faces us. Act very, very determined and very serious. Rise to the moment. And, of course, rising to the moment means that you fight effectively and cleverly. I'm not in the hoo-ha-cock. Oh, God damn it. Let's go.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
We're doing, we're charging. We're going to walk out. You know, we're going to come in with whoopee cushions and whatever else you can think of. No, don't do that.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Yes, of course. Yeah, it is. And, you know, you have these tariffs of which even if you just think about them, how could they be a good idea? You know, some people say, well, we had a tariff in the early 80s to save the American car industry. It's pretty limited. You have the tariffs against Mexico. Well, Mexico, if you want to send
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Ford assembles a plant in Mexico and they send wheels from, you know, their Dallas area plant, do they have to pay 20% for the steering wheel to cross the... I don't know. And then when it comes back, I have no idea. The head explodes. And then when you put on top of this the possibility of a default, it's real dangerous. Now, when I tell the would say about interest rates.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Actually, the yield on a 10-year treasury is going down, but don't understand why that's happening. Investors have no confidence that the economy is going to grow in the next 10 years because of this. And one says, yeah, you might. You know what? Easiest way to kill inflation and to get low interest rates is start a goddamn depression, okay?
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Yeah, that'll handle the problem pretty quickly and effectively. Oh, my God. I mean, think about it.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Well, thank you. Of course, you know, we love Carnival down here. One of the things that cracks me up is people think it's a tourist event. Where Tim Miller and James Carville go to Carnival, this is 98 percent of the people are within a three hour radius of New Orleans. You know, it's the most organic local thing that exists.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Oh, of course. Let me tell you how you can expand that program. Okay? You get you some chickens, and you care for it health care. Bring it as bought it to see your doctor. Hey, I'll give you 10 chickens if you take my blood pressure. OK, the possibilities of backyard chicken farming are boundless. They're unbelievable. They actually said that. I'm so glad you picked that up.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I didn't hear the secretary of agriculture say, well, you could grow chickens in your backyard. Right. Shackler said it.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
The problem, too, is if everybody went out and bought a chicken at the same time, the chicken would become more expensive than the egg, okay? And that's something that we need to mull over, okay? Because if you've got to pay a lot for a chicken, then the egg becomes more expensive because I don't think you can have an egg without a chicken, okay?
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
People have been thinking about this since time immemorial. Is it the chicken or the egg? Yeah. So if everybody wanted to put chickens in the backyard, there'd be a tremendous demand for chickens. which would cause the price of chickens to go up. Now, you would have more eggs, which maybe would cause the price of eggs to go down. There you go.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
If I was an economics teacher, I could give an exam on this.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
And what it's going to do, it's going to make the crypto go up for a short period of time, of which they're all going to cash in. And one of the reasons I wouldn't, I would always ask people, look, I don't know what this shit is. I ain't buying it, but could it be like what the housing market did in 2008? Could this thing bring the whole fucking thing down? And people say, no, not really.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
The risk is now we are assuming the risk. Okay. So if you want to go buy something that ain't worth the shit or you think it's worth the shit and I don't, I don't have a problem with that so much, but now you want me to, No, and people have to understand that. And if they're throwing fucking beads at Cybertruck, you can imagine where they're going to be in two months.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I did a chart on the value of a Cornwall bead. So it's in your hand, you're on the float. It reaches its peak value as it reaches the top of the curve, right?
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
And once it gets in your hand, it's not worth a shit. And once it's on the ground, it's trash. It's trash, okay? But at one period, when that corner will be, I think you're on the apex. I don't know what the right word is. But it's right there. Its value is infinitely more than it is. But it's your hand when it falls on the ground because no one's going to stoop down and pick one up.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
It was not my problem that they're loaning money to somebody who makes $9 an hour and has six mortgages. Well, if you want to do that, you lose your money. I don't give a shit. But wait a minute. I didn't realize that you had all of these CDOs and you had these tranches. And oh, my God. And then you brought the whole shit down with you. That's what they do.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Now they're putting this at a point of infection. Now, to be an economist to see what this could end up.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
There's a site called Predicted where you can actually bet on the outcome of an election. I think limited in size, but whatever the odds are, take the Democrats in the Virginia governor's race. All right. And if you can get over five or even over seven, take it. So, James, what do you say?
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Well, first of all, history augurs that the Virginia governor's race follows the presidential race, with the exception of Terry in 2013. It always goes to the outpouring. Secondly, let's try to estimate the turnout among federal employees, their dependents. OK, the dry cleaner in Arlington, the landscaper in Loudoun County, multiply all of that and try to figure out what that's going to mean.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I'll tell you what it's going to mean. High Democratic turnout, particularly in northern Virginia, like not high, astronomically high. We're not going to lose that. We're not going to lose that.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
It's still 70% a bit syphilis. OK, 30 percent of possibility. But there's something I intentionally held this off in the hopes that you would ask me about. On January the 17th, 2017, Keith Schiller and two other goons broke into the office of Dr. Bornstein. who was the GI specialist who was Trump's internist, I mean, I don't know what that means, and confiscated Trump's health records.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
We have never seen those health records. Now, maybe there's something in there a little more significant than an enlarged prostate, all right? I'm saying that causes me great suspicion. Why would you send people in to confiscate your own health records And Bornstein said, I felt violated. I mean, he actually, he's deceased now.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
So if it's 30%, which I think it is, we know he has unprotected sex with people who had other partners. That's pretty clear.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
We do know that he had red splotches on his head. I've had 2.2 million hits recently.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
in probably 26 000 comments i must be 50 of them from doctors i mean you're getting out there do you ever have any splotches on your hands you're ever getting any weird splotches well they say if you masturbate too much you can get hairs between you between your fingers i think i need a shot i need a haircut i need i'm still clear it's still i'm still clear
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Something has to explain what happened. You know, and what I said in the piece, you know, you say, well, so-and-so dropped dead of a heart attack. No one here, no, you haven't had any symptoms. Generally, that's not the case. Generally, you're disregarding something. What happened there was such...
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
of meltdown, it was like a much more serious equivalent than what happened to President Biden on June 27th, 2024. This was a significant deterioration, even by Trump and Sanders. So we ask ourselves, why? The fact that given everything about him, that there's some mental issue, some mental, physical issue that's driving this behavior, I don't think you can discount it. I really don't.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
He's always been crazy. But this was like, this was on the other side, even though he's always been crazy.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Thank you, man. I'll see you next Mardi Gras. Go Tigers.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I didn't realize that. I saw it. I just love Harry Conner Jr. And that parade is so good. I'm so naive. I thought RuPaul's Drag Race was actually about drag racing. You know, two guys riding up in a car. And my kids, my two daughters love drag. I mean, they go, they know. I went on some big drag person had a podcast.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I could have been on, I don't know, Taylor Swift's podcast, and there would not have been any more than Froush. But it was fun. It was great. And that's what you love about Mardi Gras.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Well, I think it's happening. If anything, it's happening somewhat quicker than I anticipated. But let me tell you a real faulty line of thinking. And this is more true of Democrats and people on the left. Something must be done. This is something. Ergo, let's do it. OK, you just can't change. Are you sitting here? We just got to see it and tell you we got to do nothing. All right.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
So we're going to do something. I remember when you studied the Bolshevik Revolution, it was, what is to be done, okay? Yeah, ruin the whole goddamn world, you know? But what I'm trying to do is the impulse against just charging ahead With a party brand that's frankly in decline, I would say it's in crisis, you have a chance to build it up.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
And by the way, this is a war that's not going to be culminated in a short. The first major battle is going to be the first Tuesday in November of 2026. So let's leave the light brigade in reserve right now. I'm not saying we shouldn't use it, OK? That's my rationale is I just want to tell people, yeah, we got to do something, but we got to do something smart that has a long-term plan.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
And that's the business behind this.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
When you go to New Orleans, you ought to go see the mighty God. When you see the mighty God, somebody will tell you what's accountable for. Get your ticket in your hand, if you want to go to New Orleans. Get your ticket in your hand If you want to go to New Orleans You know when you get to New Orleans Somebody will show you the Zulu King You will see the Zulu King Down on St. Claude and Dumas
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
You know you see the Zulu King down on St. Claude and Dumas And if you stay right there, I'm sure you'll see the Zulu King
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
So this is a very different time. This is a time like literally no other because we have a guy in the Oval Office that at best, the best interpretation of him, he's anti-American. I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that he actually hates the country. It's the only thing in my mind that can explain what he's doing. So March 14th, I think, is the debt limit deadline.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I'm certainly not advocating playing possum there. But what I'm saying is let them, you know, like the Japanese did to us in Okinawa. They let us come in. We eventually beat them, but God damn, what a palatable price we paid. You know, what the Tsar or General Kuchnoff did in 1812. Come on in, Napoleon. You'll enjoy yourself, and then you won't enjoy yourself very much. I mean, there's a...
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
A long history of what I referred to in the piece, and I got this from General Ty Seville, who is a former chairman of the history department at the United States Military Academy at West Point, that is called tactical pause. It's actually a. A smart move. And I understand inclination. You know, they didn't give Obama any quarter. They didn't give Clinton any votes. They didn't give anything.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Why? You know, that's just like Democrats. You're being pussies. You know, you're retreating. What I'm calling for in the last paragraph, I embrace Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope strategy. Now, no one ever thought Muhammad Ali was a retreater, but he would just bounce around for the first five or six rounds, all right? And then he'd come in and frankly knock you out, all right?
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
He didn't come out the first round just blasting away. I understand the impulse behind For right now, did you see the event with Senator Schumer and Senator Warren in front of the Treasury Building? Oh, that doesn't scare you to death. I don't know what will. And the time frame I'm talking about is very limited. But the only way you can start this discussion is. is to say, let's do nothing.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Let's play dead. You know what? I was just watching Morning Joe and my dear friend Molly Joan Fast is criticizing me too. I don't give a shit. I threw it out.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
they're going to see something by the middle of March.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
They're not going to vote until they're not going to vote.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
All right. First of all, I am convinced that the Democratic House leadership actually has a unified plan to deal with this, particularly on the debt ceiling. And I'm trying to give these guys some cover. I'm trying to say, hey, Hakeem, take your time. I got your back. You know, I know you got a plan because any number of people have called and said, you know, I think we got a pretty good thing.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I think the caucus is is pretty unified on it. And a plan, there's a time to execute it. And I'm just trying to give them cover when they come out. But the reason that the Democratic image is so low is Republicans don't like it, but they never have. I don't like my own party. It lost. Why does a political party exist? It exists to win a fucking election. Well, when you lose it, I'm mad at you.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Okay. And we can't pacify them. You know, they called me and people worked for me, close friends, I'll tell you. How can you say this? This is waving a white flag in front of treason. And how can you do this to us? I'm not saying go. I'm saying it might be mid-March before we really bring, you know, just an artillery in peace and then start firing. Okay. Go ahead.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I want to interrupt. This is something big on this. Never say Doge. Say Elon Musk Doge. Okay. If you, if you do a favorability, do you feel favorability toward Doge? People say, I don't know. You know, but once you put Musk's name on it,
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Look, I don't think anybody has to be convinced of the moment to end. What it might end up is just really short-term status quo. Okay, we'll give you 30 days status quo and then come back after 30 days. That's a real possibility to say, hey, you know, given the perilous nature of the economy right now, I'll tell you a story. Roger Altman is a close friend of mine.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
He had Evercore, a big corporate consulting firm probably in the world. He was Deputy Treasury Secretary. And He was talking about growth. And I said, actually, Atlanta Fed says we have negative growth in the first quarter. He said, well, I don't believe that. He texted me back and said, Mark Zandi says it's going to come in at 1.2%. I said, I'll take the under one for a state dinner in Manhattan.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
And he said, I'm not taking that bet. Yeah. But- When you have, which seems to be a real possibility, that by the middle of March we'll have a real crisis in this country, certainly a crisis in the markets. And if you said, well, we can give them 30 days, I'd rather make a bad deal for a month than a pretty good deal for six months.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
Right. We'll see what comes.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
First of all, I think she's smart. I've been going out of my way to say she has really good staff work. She's very well prepared in committee. She's a very good communicator. I think that she's a savvy operator. She has her own base. She has her own thing. But as opposed to some of these people, I respect her talent. I respect her abilities. I think she's right.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
This moment, I'm speaking to the House Democratic Caucus a week from Thursday. If you view this like I do, this is not, I don't like the Iraq war, so I'm going to be against it, okay? This is a moment where the whole country could go under. Really, we're at an infection point. So what I'm going to suggest is treat it like that.
The Dan Bongino Show
This Is What Winning In Politics Looks Like (Ep. 2425)
What I see is something organic coming up from around the country. I don't think that there was a lot of organization. If you remember in 2017, you had like a million women on the mall. This is happening all around the country. So the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? And what I think they should do is what we call in rural America, play possum. Just let it go.
The Dan Bongino Show
This Is What Winning In Politics Looks Like (Ep. 2425)
Don't get in the way of it. Or as we like to say, don't just stand there, do nothing.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
I'll tell you this, more deficit has accumulated under Donald Trump than any other president in American history. But I'm glad that you're on the fiscal responsibility bandwagon.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
You're reading these polls, and I'm reading the polls, saying the Democrats are 13 points up in the congressional generic, that Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president at this point in his presidency in American history. So your viewers are getting one view. And I'm reading another view. So one of us is right and one of us is wrong.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
I think the Republican Party is against the minimum wage. I think the Republican Party stands for more tax cuts for people making over $400,000 a year. I think the Republican Party wants to get rid of a woman's right to choose. I think the Republican Party wants to destroy Medicaid. I think the Republican Party would like to get rid of Medicare if they possibly can.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
I think the Republican Party supports Vladimir Putin. I think the Republican Party is weak when it comes to communist China. I see a lot of Democrats, you know, do support men, men, their rights to play women's sports.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
I don't know. It is the key issue with the high school athletic association decides who's eligible to play what sport is the key issue. We're going to continue to help people with health care, with Medicaid and Medicare. The key issue is that we're going to retire people, secure people's retirement security. The key issue is in this century.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
Under Democratic presidents, 50 million jobs have been created and one million jobs under Republicans. I think most Democrats that I know want to create jobs, create opportunity for people and create opportunity for young people. I don't know of anybody that's sitting there worrying about who plays in the high school track meet. I see you got USAID up there. That's correct. They spend $41 billion.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
They're spending $41 billion. The federal budget is six trillion. I did the math, Sean. It actually comes to something like 0.014%. So take the 41 billion, put it against the six trillion, and see what you've done when your president is responsible for more federal debt than any president in the history of the United States.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Wakes Up in a Panic as He Loses All Control
Do you know what year had the most domestic energy production in American history? I happen to know. I have no idea. Fact check. I do. I do. That statement is true. Domestic energy.