Longtime political strategist James Carville slammed the 2020 Democrats for tacking “off the damn radar screen” on issues, including “talking about open borders and decriminalizing illegal immigration,” and warned those still in the primary that such progressive advocacy “is not how you win a national election.”
Carville appeared on MSNBC in the wake of the Iowa caucuses debacle, saying Tuesday that “there’s only one moral imperative in this country right now, and that is to beat Donald Trump.”
“We don’t win elections because we talk about stuff that is not relevant,” he argued, and challenged Democrats to rise to the occasion.
WATCH: James Carville has some thoughts about what is happening in Iowa, and across the country, for Democrats. pic.twitter.com/W9KuEeFvcO
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 5, 2020
In an interview with Vox published Friday, Carville elaborated, and highlighted Democrats’ willingness to “get distracted” over far-left issues.
“We have candidates on the debate stage talking about open borders and decriminalizing illegal immigration. They’re talking about doing away with nuclear energy and fracking,” Carville stated. “You’ve got Bernie Sanders talking about letting criminals and terrorists vote from jail cells. It doesn’t matter what you think about any of that, or if there are good arguments — talking about that is not how you win a national election. It’s not how you become a majoritarian party.”
Carville then explained his alternative as a “coherent, meaningful message that is relevant to people’s lives.” He implied that many of the talking points being peddled in the primary were largely promoted by Republicans to make the candidates “be sucked into every rabbit hole.”
“Most of the people aren’t into all this distracting sh*t about open borders and letting prisoners vote. They don’t care. They have lives to lead. They have kids. They have parents that are sick. That’s what we have to talk about. That’s all we should talk about,” Carville stated.
Carville also said that while he would vote for him if necessary, Sanders is “not a Democrat.”
“He’s never been a Democrat,” he said. “He’s an ideologue.”