Longtime Democrat strategist James Carville is proposing that congressional Democrats engage in the "most daring political maneuver" in the party's history: "roll over and play dead."
In a guest column for The New York Times on Tuesday, Carville proffered a "strategic political retreat" on the theory that Republicans and President Donald Trump will inevitably "crumble beneath their own weight."
Carville argued that there's nothing Democrats can do to combat what he called the "most incompetent cabinet in history" under Trump or to influence the upcoming budget negotiations and debt ceiling talks. So, Carville suggests Democrats do something radical: "nothing at all."
"With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it's time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead," Carville wrote. "Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight, and make the American people miss us. Only until the Trump administration has spiraled into the low 40s or high 30s in public approval polling percentages should we make like a pack of hyenas and go for the jugular. Until then, I'm calling for a strategic political retreat."
He added, "I don't think a lot of Americans are waiting around for us to use the same old arguments and same old language to pile on Donald Trump — they're tired of it, and our Democratic voters are tired of watching us moan and groan to cover up our impotency out of power."
Instead of a showdown on the debt ceiling, Carville said "the most radical thing" Democrats can do "is nothing at all."
"Let the Republicans disagree with themselves publicly. Do not offer a single vote. Do not insert yourself into the discourse, do not throw a monkey wrench into the equation. Simply step away and let 'em flirt with a default. Just when they've pushed themselves to the brink, and it appears they could collapse the global economy — come in and save the day," he wrote.
Carville predicted that the Trump honeymoon with the American people will be over by Memorial Day "but more likely in the next 30 days." In the meantime, he wrote, "let the Republicans' own undertow drag them away."
"Give them all the rope they need. Then let dysfunction paralyze their House caucus and rupture their tiny majority. Let them reveal themselves as incapable of governing, and at the right moment, start making a coordinated, consistent argument about the need to protect Medicare, Medicaid, worker benefits and middle class pocketbooks. Let the Republicans crumble, let the American people see it, and wait until they need us to offer our support," he wrote.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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