Bill Maher and James Carville share one major concern about Donald J. Trump. They both worry that there is a good chance he will win the 2024 presidential election. Discussing politics on Maher’s casual podcast “Club Random,” Carville said that, as a betting man, he sees “even odds” of Trump getting elected again.
Carville, a long-time Democratic political consultant and television commentator, said people in his party need to better understand that Trump’s appeal to so many Americans is that he is an alternative to extreme “wokeness” on the far left of the Democratic Party.
“People don’t like preachy people judging them,” Carville said.
He said the “woke” movement from the left started out with good ideals of treating people of all races and genders fairly.
“Then educated white people got ahold of the word and they completely f–ked it up and turned everybody off,” Carville said.
Maher, who called himself “an old-school liberal,” agreed that “wokeness” is dragging down the party. He said Trump has “cult” followers who will stick with him no matter what he says or does (or is convicted of) because he is their savior.
“They think that Democrats or liberal thinkers are a bigger threat than Russia, or anything,” Maher said.
No matter what scandal Trump is caught in, Maher said “he is the guy with a messianic cult,” who appeals to the common “person who feels cheated” in this country.
Carville agreed that both parties have their extremists, but as a loyal Democrat, he said “that’s about 10 percent of the Democrats but about 65 percent of Republicans.”
They both called the recent Republican debate “good theater” but pointless since Trump was not there.
Carville also said he is very concerned that President Joe Biden is aging rapidly, and Democrats are not excited about his reelection. He said numerous polls recently show that around 75 percent of Dems do not even want Biden to run.
“That’s a big f–king number,” Carville said.
Maher said he backs Biden but wishes the Democrats could go with a more youthful leader, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He recalled meeting with Newsom awhile ago at a fundraiser at Sean Penn’s house and urging him to throw his hat into the ring.
“I told him, run for president while you still look like a movie star,” Maher said with a chuckle.
But while they both are concerned about Biden’s age, Maher and Carville agreed that Biden is plenty fit and youthful enough to handle meetings in the White House with his advisers, where most policy is set.
Carville and Maher expressed disappointment that Democrats and Republicans have moved further away from each other, with more hatred of the other side and less meeting in the middle to get things done.
Carville said it is wrong to villainize all Trump supporters, even fanatical ones.
“Most of them, they are not evil. They’re just silly,” he said.
Still, as a native Louisianan, Carville grew up watching racism in the South and said he thinks Trump does attract some disturbing groups and people.
“Let me put it this way. Not all Trump people are racists, but all racists are Trump people,” Carville said.
