Democratic veteran strategist James Carville discussed the results of the 2024 White House race Thursday, calling President-elect Trump's decisive victory "depressing."
“I have to reevaluate," Carville said in a video released by Politicon. "I’m sure I’ll come up with something to make me feel good again, but right now, today, it’s hard. I’ll be honest with you."
“And the hardest thing is that I look across this country and tens of millions of people fell for this s‑‑‑, and it’s depressing,” he added.
Carville, who served as a senior adviser to former President Clinton, predicted late last month that Vice President Harris would win the election. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ called the race for Trump early Wednesday morning.
The strategist said it would take some time to accept, but signaled he wouldn't feel down forever.
"I'll snap out of it," he said. "But I’m in a very, very dark tunnel right now.”
Carville said "all of the intangible advantages" the Democratic Party had "didn't amount to anything."
“We had every advantage, but we had the perception of disorder on every kind of level — foreign policy, border policy, economic policy,” he noted. “At the end of the day, it seems to me that the operative word here is: People want order and will pay anything to have order.”
As polls closed across the U.S. and numbers started rolling in Tuesday, Carville suggested the early results for looked concerning for Harris and Democrats.
Trump ended up sweeping all seven battleground states and made gains in some Democratic strongholds such as New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. Republicans were also able to flip the Senate, and though the House majority is still in question, they are favored to maintain it and complete a trifecta.
The veteran strategist signaled Democrats didn't play "the game" well.
“You’re sitting there, and you lost the game, and you look at the bench, and you say, 'Goddamn, why we didn’t have these guys in the game?’ But we didn't,” he said.
