Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville accused President Donald Trump of one of the most ‘ignorant’ acts in American history with his topsy-turvy application of tariffs that came to a head last week.
After Trump initially announced at least 10 percent tariffs on countries around the world and reciprocal tariffs on countries the White House viewed as not being fair to the U.S. on trade, the president reversed course and only let the 10 percent tariffs stick hours after all the tariffs were supposed to go into effect.
At the same time he ramped up a trade war with China – making the markets go haywire.
‘In what will certainly be recorded as one of the most ignorant acts of political leadership in American history, the president of the United States has now willfully damaged the global economy with his tariff chaos,’ Carville wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday.
‘Not only was this an act of economic warfare, it has broken the cardinal rule in American politics: Never destabalize the economy,’ Carville continued. ‘With it, the Trump administration is causing enormous damage to itself – and there can be no more disraction from this naked truth.’
Carville, who became a household name after helping get Democratic President Bill Clinton elected in 1992, called on his party to seize this opportunity.
And by seize the opportunity, he again called on Democrats to step out of the Republicans’ way.
‘This is where the Democrats have an opening,’ Carville argued. ‘In February I wrote a piece calling on my party’s leaders to play dead, allowing the Republicans to punch themselves out and crumble beneath their own weight.’
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville was out with a new New York Times op-ed Monday, again asking party members to sit on their hands and let President Donald Trump and Republicans take the political fall for the topsy-turvy tariffs and subsequent price increases
President Donald Trump is captured in the Oval Office on Monday. James Carville called Trump’s hot-and-cold application of tariffs last week ‘one of the most ignorant acts of political leadership in American history’
That didn’t go as planned.
Carville noted how Democrats didn’t take his advice – and ended up becoming the story, linking to a piece about how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave Republicans the votes to avoid a government shutdown.
‘Now, Democrats have an opportunity to allow the Republicans to edge closer to collapse as the party in full control of Washington – let’s please not become the story again and get in the way,’ Carville asked.
The Democratic strategist said it was likely that in the coming weeks and months, average Americans would start feeling economic pain from the tariffs that Trump implemented.
‘The Trump administration will not be competent enough to dig us out,’ he claimed.
‘The path to stabilizing and strengthening the country starts when Democrats can take back the economic narrative from the Republican Party and persuade the majority of Americans to close the book on the Trump chaos,’ the Louisiana Democrat argued.
‘This can only be done if we avoid the distractions – whether it’s Mr. Trump’s third-term talk or Democratic infighting on social issues – and instead focus on the economic foundations that matter to Americans most,’ he added.
He laid out a strategy where Democrats needed to first and foremost focus on prices.
Carville recalled how Trump won the 2024 election by claiming that he would be a better economic steward than Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, using the post-COVID pandemic inflation experienced during President Joe Biden’s tenure to make that case.
‘Making it clear that Trump and the Republicans willingly broke this promise should be in every ad, every podcast talking point, every message we send from now until the midterms,’ Carville instructed.
The Democratic strategist also recommended not talking about the stock market dropping – but instead focus on 401(ks), which most Americans have.
He argued ‘the tariffs are a poison dagger for those who have saved and vested into their 401(k) their entire lives, just to see it depleted by the reckless actions of the president.’
Finally he advised that the Democrats ‘make the message local’ – by highlighting how the tariffs are impacting people on the ground.
Carville also realistically noted that the ‘Democratic brand is tarnished at this given moment’ and advised party members to ‘take our prints off of the message as much as possible.’
‘If we avoid the distractions to come and stay focused on the economy, Democrats can take back the one issue that has kept Trump on a respirator all this time,’ Carville said.
Voters, for years, have given Trump high marks on handling the economy.
‘Through all the hardships to come, we bring the silver lining,’ Carville said. ‘And finally, we can begin again,’ he said of the Democratic Party.
