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Hello, and welcome to a special episode of USA Today's The Excert. I'm Dana Taylor. Once known simply as a gossip guru, Charlemagne is the host of the

extremely popular radio show and podcasts, The Breakfast Club, aka The Club, which reaches over

seven million monthly listeners. In recent years, the 47-year-old has emerged as one of America's

most prominent political pundits,

beefing with President Donald Trump and predicting Joe Biden's 2024 downfall.

USA Today politics reporter Jay Stahl recently sat down with a highly influential host

to get his take on today's politics, what he thinks the Democrats need to do to score well in the midterms, and his personal philosophy.

Jay, thank you so much for joining me on the excerpt.

Of course, happy to be here.

I want to start by talking about Charlamagne's thoughts on Democrats.

He's been very critical about the Democrats' messaging to everyday Americans.

Let's listen to some of what he said.

You're talking about a party right now that has zero identity.

Don't know whether they're coming or going.

Still trying to play politics.

Still don't have any real fight.

What else did he tell you about the Democrats?

I think Charlemagne has an interesting experience because he's from South Carolina, a place in the world that's produced a range of politicians across parties from Nancy Mace and Lindsay Graham to Bacari Sellers and Representative Jim Clyburn, who is largely credited with helping save Joe Biden's 2020 presidential run. And I think a lot of his

frustrations with Democrats come down to messaging. It's been widely talked about, especially with

the release of former Vice President Kamala Harris' book, 107 days. But he really has talked about

...