Bill Clinton’s campaign guru, longtime Democratic strategist James Carville, exploded Tuesday over the possibility of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) snagging the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, warning that the party is in danger of turning into an “ideological cult,” and admitting that he is “scared to death” for their success.
Carville appeared on MSNBC discussing the (partial) results from Monday night’s Iowa caucus, but quickly went into one of his signature rants, cautioning Democrats that, no matter the outcome of the caucus vote, the party is in serious trouble if it hopes to defeat President Donald Trump’s bid to retake the White House in 2020.
“The polling averages have not been very good the last 10 days,” Carville said, referencing Trump’s numbers, which have been slowly climbing upward during his Senate impeachment trial. “And I’ve seen some pretty good polls that show enthusiasm among Democrats is not as high as we would like it. So there’s something as people are watching this process that is concerning.”
Carville’s theory has merit: even though Democrats have been pounding at Trump since he won the election back in November of 2016, turnout was shockingly low in Iowa and it’s not expected to be much better in New Hampshire. If the Democrats are enthusiastic about the 2020 presidential election, they’re not demonstrating it at the polls.
But that wasn’t the end of Carville’s meltdown.
“I’ll get behind him. I have no choice,” Carville said about Sanders. “But look at the British Labour Party. We’re like talking about people voting from jail cells. We’re talking about not having a border. I mean, come on, people.”
Then he started yelling.
WATCH:
Animated James Carville pic.twitter.com/ThZrrW0lUt
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) February 4, 2020
“It matters who the candidate is, it matters what a party chooses to talk about!” Carville screamed at the anchors. “I’m 75 years old. Why am I here doing this? Because I am scared to death, that’s why! Let’s get relevant here, people, for sure. All the Sanders people are taking pictures wishing Jeremy Corbyn the best. I don’t want to go down that path!”
“Do we want to be an ideological cult? Or do we want to have a majoritarian instinct to have the majority party?” Carville exclaimed.
He then turned on fellow panelist former Missouri Democratic Senator, Claire McCaskill, who tried to argue that a more progressive party is just bending to the will of the voters.
“You and I know that 18 percent of the country elects 52 senators,” he railed in McCaskill’s direction. “The urban core is not gonna get it done. What we need is power! Do you understand? That’s what this is about.”
Carville then zeroed in a problem that most Democrats, particularly those who have been pressing for a Sanders nod, even as far back as 2016, perhaps haven’t considered: that not only will the Democratic party fracture as a result of a Sanders nomination, big money donors may pull their funds altogether, leaving Sanders without much in the way of a campaign war chest.
The final results from the Iowa caucus are expected today, but if Sanders wins, it will be no surprise. He narrowly lost the state to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 contest. The impact of a Sanders winning streak, however, could very well make an impact.