Democratic strategist James Carville said in a new opinion piece for The New York Times that the current Democratic Party is “a cracked-out clown car.”
“Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided. These are the words I hear my fellow Democrats using to describe our party as of late. The truth is they’re not wrong: The Democratic Party is in shambles,” Carville said in the Times piece released Monday.
Carville pointed to the recent clinching of the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor by Zohran Mamdani, which shocked many political observers, saying it “wasn’t an isolated event.”
“It represents an undeniable fissure in our political soul. We are divided along generational lines: Candidates like Mr. Mamdani are impatient for an economic future that folks my age are skeptical can be delivered,” Carville added.
“We are divided along ideological lines: A party that is historically allegiant to the state of Israel is at odds with a growing faction that will not look past the abuses in Gaza and the West Bank,” he continued. “From Medicare for All purists to Affordable Care Act reformists, the list goes on and on.”
Democrats have struggled to recover from their losses in November’s elections, and have gone through furious debates about how to move forward.
Favorable views of the Democratic Party were at their lowest in three decades in a recent CNN poll, with Democrats garnering 28 percent favorability. In the same poll, 54 percent said they had an unfavorable view of the party.
Party leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have also faced heat for their actions from fellow Democrats amid President Trump’s second term, and Schumer hasn’t seemed to please the public recently, with the New York senator sitting at 39.9 percent unfavorability in a Decision Desk HQ polling average
The Hill has reached out to the Democratic National Committee for comment.
