If you believe long-time Democrat and former Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville, Democrats are “Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided.” That’s what he wrote in a New York Times op-ed this week. As Carville bluntly put it, “The Democratic Party is in shambles.”
Pointing to Marxist candidate Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral Democrat primary last month, Carville declared that it’s not an isolated event but “an undeniable fissure in [the Democrat Party’s] political soul.”
Carville lists the sides of the divide as ranging from disagreements over economic solutions to support for Israel to ObamaCare. He says, “We are divided along ideological lines.”
That is quite an admission. But Carville doesn’t stop there, writing, “The Democratic Party is steamrolling toward a civilized civil war.” That’s an interesting turn of phrase — a “civilized civil war.” His point seems clear: The two factions of the increasingly divided Democrats are headed for an eventual divorce.
Yet Carville seems to welcome it, writing, “It’s necessary to have it.” He offers the following caveat: Delay it until after the 2026 midterm elections.
What is also interesting in Carville’s assessment of the state of the Democrat Party is his view that the leading 2028 presidential candidate has yet to be revealed. It’s hard to argue with him here, as none of the presumptive Democrats currently vying for pole position in the eventual race, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, are particularly inspiring. Of course, Carville will change his tune should Newsom wind up winning the party’s nomination, but that’s years away.
Carville’s admission and even welcome of a party divorce appear to be his acknowledgment that the radical leftist factions that have taken over a sizable contingent of the Democrats are effectively narrowing the party’s electoral chances. Democrat primary voters in New York might want to give full socialism a spin, but most Americans don’t.
The latest polling numbers confirm this. According to a recent CNN poll, just 28% of Americans have a positive view of the Democrat Party. That represents the party’s lowest ranking in the 30-year history of CNN’s poll.
Another poll from Quinnipiac University found that only 19% of voters have a favorable view of congressional Democrats, while 72% have a negative view. This is also an all-time low for Democrats in Quinnipiac’s 16-year polling history.
The conundrum for Democrat leadership is that the party is viewed negatively across the board, not just by Republican and conservative voters, but also by Democrat voters.
For most young, increasingly radical leftist, Marxist-embracing Democrats, the party has not moved far enough down the socialist black hole. These Democrats are demanding drastic change, and they seemingly see trans kids and Jewish Nazis everywhere.
The older dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, many of whom haven’t fully bought into the radical gender-bending ideology and the hatred of Israel, are frustrated with Democrat lawmakers’ feckless response to Donald Trump and the Republicans seemingly running roughshod over the Obama-established deep state.
Then there is the growing number of former Democrats who haven’t so much left the Democrat Party but have been abandoned by the party and have either thrown in with the expanding Republican tent, or have gone independent.
Finally, there is the Democrats’ man problem, or more specifically, the young man problem. Their brand, which has for years demonized men and masculinity as “the problem,” is struggling even to know how to appeal to men, let alone win them over. Young men, especially, have turned away from Democrats.
Carville is likely right; some form of a split is coming within the Democrat Party, and what will emerge from it will be interesting to behold.
