James Carville, mastermind of the Bill Clinton 1992 and 1996 election victories, doesn't seem to be keeping up with the times. He is offering Kamala Harris some debate advice - and he's not being careful about what he wishes for.
Veteran Democratic Party strategist James Carville claimed former President Donald Trump is so afraid to “debate a girl” that he is “[defecating]in his pants” over the thought of facing Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump announced Saturday he would not attend a Sept. 10 ABC News debate he previously agreed to with President Joe Biden. Trump and his team said the debate was planned against the Biden campaign while the former president proposed a debate to be hosted by Fox News. Harris and her allies have insisted Trump committed to debate the Democratic nominee.
Neither the network nor Harris had agreed to Trump’s ultimatum as of Sunday morning.
See Related: Ragin' Cajun Carville: Keeping Biden in Race Is 'Exactly What Donald Trump Wants Us to Do'
'Skunk at the Garden Party': Democrat Strategist Carville Warns Party Not to Get Cocky About Kamala
There is, of course, literally nothing the Queen of Word Salads can do to enhance any open debate format, with no subject or no choice of moderator. But Carville has an idea that he thinks will help, albeit one that is simply not going to happen. As the linked article above quotes the once and former Clinton creature:
But I got an idea. I got an idea. I want to throw this out. I think—I hope somebody in the vice president campaign is listening. I think we should accept the Fox debate, and I think the debate should take place on a night of September 18th in New York City, and I think we should be gracious to former President Trump. He’s old, and he’s kind of losing it, but I happen to know he’s going to be in Manhattan on September 18th. Well, James, how do you know that? Because that’s the day he sentences his fat ass.
So, tell Fox you’ll be glad. You’ll show up in Manhattan. They got a studio there. I’ve been it before, and we’ll have the debate on Fox on the night of September 18th. That’s what we should do. I’ll be checking back with you.
You do that, James.
Carville is likely underestimating Trump. Granted, Trump would be well-advised to go ahead with the Sept. 10th ABC debate; he has literally nothing to lose by doing so.
There is currently just that one debate scheduled, on ABC, on September 10th, the one Trump is claiming he won't attend because the arrangement was made with the Biden campaign, not the Harris campaign. This is a miscalculation; Trump should proceed, as it's to his advantage to push Harris onto the debate stage.
Carville, on the other hand, is engaging in some projection that registers on the Richter scale here; Trump is certainly not afraid of Kamala Harris, and why should he be? We've all seen her in unscripted sessions; Kamala Harris couldn't string together a coherent, unscripted sentence if we spotted her two verbs and a conjunction. She just isn't any good at public speaking; on teleprompter, she's barely coherent, and when she's speaking extemporaneously? Kamala Harris is good at one thing: Talking a lot while not saying anything.
In this ramble on diplomacy, she manages to even make Joe Biden look like he's standing there wondering what the heck she's talking about:
Vice President Harris: This is an extraordinary day and I'm very thankful for our president. This is an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and strengthening alliances. This is an incredible day and you can see it… pic.twitter.com/wqiqylGsXn
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 2, 2024
Trump may be brash, even boorish, but take a look at his far more disciplined performance against Joe Biden in the one debate that sealed the doom of befuddled old Joe's campaign. Donald Trump isn't afraid to debate Harris; it's a safe bet that he's salivating at the chance. He's old, but he's not losing it; the first debate against Biden proved that.
As for Carville's suggestion that they tie the debate to Trump's ongoing lawfare issues, that's a canard. Trump voters will not be dissuaded by what they are convinced is a phony lawfare set-up, no matter how inarticulately Harris tries to bring that up; throughout all the trial sessions, Trump's polling numbers have inched pretty steadily upward. Harris has, yes, had a bump in the polls following her coronation as the Democrat standard-bearer, but any open forum will just serve to remind voters of just how ill-informed and inarticulate she is.
That's not a look that wins elections.
There are people whose advice the Harris campaign would do well to listen to. James Carville isn't one of them. Their best option is the one that the Biden campaign used in 2020, and that is to keep her out of the spotlight as much as possible--something that Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) pointed out the media is aiding and abetting with already, as I wrote on earlier.
Do the debates, President Trump. Do as many as you can, whenever and wherever you can. I'll be checking back with you.
Watch the entire Carville interview below, where he comes across as crass and childish:
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