James Carville on Harris-Walz v. Trump-Vance

Conversations with Bill Kristol

News, Society & Culture, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Where do things stand in the race now that the matchup is set? According to veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, the replacement of Joe Biden by Kamala Harris has improved prospects for the Democrats—though “not as much as some people think.” As he puts it: “It’s like I tell people, if you have an infected wisdom tooth and you go to the dentist and they pull it out, you feel on top of the world—[but] God, you really don’t feel any better than you would if you never had the infected wisdom tooth.” In a race that may be won at the margins, as in 2016 and 2020, Carville explains that Harris must define herself and her candidacy successfully where she still isn’t well known. According to Carville, she has the opportunity to brand Trump as “past, yesterday, and stale”—but the Harris-Walz campaign must have a forward-looking message and run on concrete policy proposals. Carville also discusses the selection of Walz, the mood at Mar-a-Lago since Biden’s withdrawal from the race, how the Trump strategy against Harris might develop, and offers advice about whether to have and how to handle a Harris-Trump debate.

Transcript

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0:26.2	Hi, I'm Bill Crystal. Welcome back to Conversations. I'm very pleased to be joined again by my friend James Carville. We last had this one of these conversations right I think right after Memorial Day. Joe Biden was the likely Democrat comedy. He was trailing Donald Trump.
0:30.8	We were a little down on the dumps I would say even though we concealed it very well of course James is always cheerful but I think we were slightly pessimistic about things so it's a different world now I guess or, or is it? Where do we stand?
0:42.8	Where does the race really stand now?
0:44.2	And what should we be looking for?
0:46.8	Well, first of all, thank you for having me on.
0:49.2	And secondly, yes, it is decidedly better. I mean, it is decidedly better.
0:52.6	I mean, it's not overwhelming.
0:55.0	It wasn't a huge shift, but, you know,
0:59.5	we're probably down two or three,
1:01.2	and we're probably up two or three. we probably up two or three and in this environment that's a lot.
1:06.4	I don't know how much you could move but what we're testing you know and I think we'll
1:11.8	test the upward number here in the next couple of weeks, at least I hope we do. But yes, it is, it is, everything is better. The polls are better, the fundraising is better, the enthusiasm is better. It's's just you have to be, it's just unreasonable to even
1:27.9	think it's not better. Now how much it is, I see some of these giddy people on TV and like hey knock it off I mean you laugh
1:37.5	after the election not before the election.
1:40.6	How you were a long time believer that President Biden shouldn't run for re-election for another four years,
1:48.0	even though he's been a good president, that people did not want an 82-year-old and all all that and they wanted a choice of someone
1:53.8	younger and I think you certainly have indicated in that judgment in my opinion
1:59.6	by just a slight the wave of relief almost and enthusiasm that followed Biden stepping down.
2:05.5	How much of it is due though to, how much of it is a positive judgment on Vice President
2:09.0	Harris at this point?
2:10.0	She has had two weeks to campaign and sort of reintroduce yourself.
2:13.7	You know, not as much as some people think.
	...

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