DAILY BEAST: Joanna Coles sits down with legendary Democratic strategist James Carville, the Ragin’ Cajun who helped elect Bill Clinton and has never been shy about saying what his party needs to hear. Carville unloads on why Trump’s media circus is a deliberate smokescreen, keeping Americans distracted from real economic anxieties-rising costs and disappearing job security. He breaks down why Democrats are failing to cut through the noise and warns that “pronoun” obsessed liberals are more trouble than they’re worth and should go off to start their own party.

JOANNA COLES, DAILY BEAST: Should Kamala Harris run again? JAMES CARVILLE: She talked about thinking about running for governor of California. I don’t know if she runs. That’s her perfect right to do. But I got to tell you, the field is going to be really fast, really good. And I hope everybody runs. But I would tell every potential candidate, you better lace up your shoes because this is awfully fast track he’s going to be running on. And I think people are going to be blown away at the talent level in the Democratic Party, blown away. COLES: So our previous guest on the podcast, Anthony Scaramucci, pointed out the Democrats do much better with younger candidates. So JFK, your candidate, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, who are the candidates that you’re excited to, as you say, put on their shoes and lace up? CARVILLE: Well, the problem with me saying that is I always forget someone. Okay, but then I go, why didn’t you mention this? Well, let me let me. COLES: We’re some ways off. The number of potential Democratic presidential candidates under the age of 60 is stunning. I mean, it’s just stunning. And anytime I talk to any of them, I said, for God’s sakes, run, run. And we’re going to be helped when people hopefully we you know, my idea in the last election was at the end to just announce four town halls around the country, have President Clinton, President Obama moderated and invite six people. If you’d have done that, we’d have won this thing so easy, you wouldn’t even believe it. So, you know, I think the party chair, and I think this is a really good idea. We’re talking about doing like a mini convention in 2026. Let the public get a look at the people that are thinking about running for president. I think it’s important. COLES: So we talked about AOC and Bernie. You made the point – CARVILLE: That’s all we talk about is AOC and Bernie, but go ahead. Let’s continue to talk about AOC and Bernie. COLES: I’m only asking about it because — CARVILLE: I understand. COLES: Because they are doing something. They’re clearly putting themselves out there. CARVILLE: You know what they don’t do? Win elections. Okay. [LAUGHTER] CARVILLE: And you have to understand, that’s the only thing I care about. COLES: Right. CARVILLE: The progressives, all they do is impress other journalists. They never beat a Republican. Tell me when one body from that wing has ever run against a Republican. All right. That’s the problem. So everybody goes and say, okay, Bernie has run for president twice. He lost twice. He lost more the second time. But when I go on cable TV, or podcasts like this, the entire Democratic Party is AOC and Bernie. You know, Jackie Rosen doesn’t exist. Tammy Baldwin doesn’t exist. Ruben Gallego doesn’t exist. Alyssa Slotkin doesn’t exist. I never get asked about them. What about AOC? What about it? COLES: But to be fair CARVILLE: I am being fair. COLES: But I asked you and you said, Oh, I’m not going to name them. I’m not going to name them. So what we want is other people to watch, right? And they’re putting themselves out there. CARVILLE: There’s so many stories detailing so many potential Democratic 2028 candidates. You can just read them and see. And the names will just spark your lips. But let’s just say there’s an abundance of potential candidates. And there’s a lot more to the Democratic Party than AOC and Bernie. Okay, let’s stipulate that.

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