A well-known Democratic strategist, who previously speculated on the duration it would take for Donald Trump’s administration to ‘collapse’, now asserts that the moment has arrived, and it has occurred ‘faster than [he] imagined’.
James Carville, a veteran 80-year-old political consultant, initially forecasted the downfall of Trump’s administration shortly after the Republican leader returned to the White House on January 20.
In a conversation with Mediaite’s Dan Abrams, Carville expressed his belief that Trump’s presidency would falter due to declining approval ratings, attributed to the firing of numerous government employees and several contentious executive orders.
During this interview, which occurred shortly after Trump had been in office for a month, Carville cited a poll indicating Trump’s approval ratings fell from the low 50s to the upper 30s, predicting it would take ‘less than 30 days’ for the administration to falter, especially ‘in public opinion’.
“Democrats need to play possum,” he stated. “This whole thing is collapsing.”
Now, a month later, Carville has declared that the collapse has indeed occurred.
Speaking to CNN following reports that the Trump administration accidentally leaked war plans to The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg via the messaging app Signal, Carville admitted he was ‘wrong’ about his earlier prediction.
Although he originally predicted the ‘collapse’ would occur by Memorial Day on May 26, Carville remarked: “It’s before April Fool’s Day – which the Trump administration should make a national holiday because it so accurately represents who they are.”
He further commented: “We look at what’s happening in the markets, we look at what’s happening on Signal-gate, we look what’s happening all the way around us […] I think the thing is collapsed.”
While Carville clearly voiced his viewpoint, he also said: “Let’s take the middle ground here and say ‘it’s collapsing’ – I’ll meet you halfway, but that’s about all I can do.”
Upon being questioned about statistics indicating Trump is ‘more popular’ now than during his second election, Carville responded: “It doesn’t matter what the party rating is, what matters are elections.”
Carville further asserted that the US was witnessing ‘buffoons running the country’, stating: “Again, I thought I’d have to wait longer for the collapse, it happened even faster than I could imagine.”