The heady days of progressive idealism and electoral success are far in the rearview mirror, and the far-left “Squad” better get used to that, a legendary Democratic strategist declared recently.
Congresswomen like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are holdovers from a time when President Donald Trump was down in the polls and still adjusting to the powers of the presidency. Any hope of returning to that moment in time is wishful thinking, according to James Carville.
The former Clinton mastermind, whose theory of “triangulation” helped cement Democratic dominance in Washington, D.C. for most of the 1990s, is aghast at what his party embodies today — a woke, cancelling deformation of the good government ethos he brought to the White House more than 30 years ago.
“You know what they don’t do? Win elections,” he said about AOC and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who have teamed up to barnstorm the country on their “Fight Oligarchy” tour. “All they do is impress other journalists. They never beat a Republican!”
Carville knows a thing or two about that, having helped former President Bill Clinton unseat President George H.W. Bush after one term. His rallying cry — “It’s the economy, stupid” — came to define Clinton’s single-minded focus on lowering the cost of living for American families after Bush broke his campaign vow against raising taxes.
“Every time that you see a Democrat that is out there screaming and pounding the podium, ask yourself: ‘Have they ever beat a Republican?’” he said.
Although AOC has managed to fend off Republican challengers in her deep-blue district, the point still stands: Much of the liberal ideology lugged around by the Bronx native is an albatross on the necks of swing-district Democrats who will be key to helping the party wrest back control of the U.S. House in 2026.
Sanders’ shtick, meanwhile, wasn’t even able to propel him out of the Democratic presidential primary that produced a more moderate Joe Biden, and his home state of Vermont is a progressive utopia home where federal Republican candidates don’t stand a chance.
Carville slammed the duo’s private-jet sojourn across the continental U.S.
“I’ve got a great idea,” he said sarcastically. “Let’s send an 83-year-old and a congresswoman from Queens out in the country.”
Even the name of their tour is terrible, he told the Daily Beast.
“90 percent of people in the country have no idea what they’re talking about,” Carville complained about their use of the term “oligarchy.” “And that’s a problem with Democrats particularly. The more ‘identity,’ the more ‘pronoun’ you get, the more you try to use language that no one else uses.”
Despite Carville’s dismay, AOC continues to dominate conversations about the 2028 field, even as her constituents back in the Bronx complain that she is botching basic constituent services.
“There’s a lot more to the Democratic Party than AOC and Bernie,” he lamented.
Moving forward, Democrats would do better to hold a “mini convention” that opens the process to candidates with less name recognition than prominent “Squad” members like AOC, Carville explained, adding that it was a mistake to let Biden and Kamala Harris walk away with their respective nominations without much of a debate.
“What we have to do is set up ourselves as the party that is simply trying to help people who are trying to make it,” he said.
