Longtime political strategist James Carville warned Democratic politicians not to get in the way of the protests springing up around the nation against President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk.
“What I think they should do is what we call in rural America play possum,” he told MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Monday. “Just let it go. Don’t get in the way of it. Or as we like to say, ‘Don’t just stand there. Do nothing.’ Let this germinate.”
He compared the movement against Trump to a freight train on the move and told Democratic politicians to keep out of the way until the right time.
“In the immortal words of Dalton in ‘Road House,’ be nice until it’s time not to be nice,” Carville said. “And that time is coming shortly.”
Carville also took aim at moderates who say people are overreacting to Trump.
“No one is overreacting,” he said. “We’re living in real time in a catastrophe.”
But he said the tide will turn against Trump ― and predicted it will happen “way sooner than you think.”
Carville pointed to one specific date coming up later this year: the Nov. 5 election in Virginia, where voters will replace outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who has aligned himself closely with Trump.
“Think about the turnout among federal employees,” he said. “What percent of the voters in northern Virginia are federal employees or families of federal employees? Do you think they’re gonna vote? I think they’re gonna vote. I think I know which way they’re gonna vote, and they’re gonna vote heavily.”
Federal workers have been targeted by Trump and Musk, who have been slashing budgets, shutting down departments and laying off workers.
See Carville’s full conversation with Melber below:
