Political strategist James Carville is doubling down on his profanity-laced tirade against Donald Trump, saying he’s looking for fresh ways to “hate” the president.
In a video for Politicon posted on Saturday, Carville called Trump a “fat f---” and embraced the White House’s go-to insult for its critics. “You’re right! I got Trump Derangement Syndrome—I hate the motherf---er,” he snarled.
The famed Democratic strategist, 81, addressed his outburst on Monday, saying his broadside against the 79-year-old president felt “cathartic,” even if it might not have been “politically advantageous.”
“Yes, I have Trump Derangement Syndrome, and I’m trying to get it worse,” Carville told TMZ Live. “I’ve reached the bottom of how much I can hate somebody but I’m gonna dig deep and see if I can find another way to hate him.”
“I think the man hates the United States, and I just didn’t want to keep it to myself,” said the strategist behind Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.
Carville argued that the “wisdom” of what he said had been “validated,” pointing to Trump’s shocking decision to wear a cap from his own merchandise collection to the dignified transfer on Saturday of six U.S. service members killed in his war with Iran.
“He doesn’t take his hat off around the coffin of fallen soldiers. He doesn’t like the United States,” he said.
When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast, “James Carville is a stone-cold loser who clearly suffers from a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
Charles Latibeaudiere, TMZ’s co-executive producer and TMZ Live host, noted that some could view Carville’s rant as a “misstep” ahead of the midterms—and that it might even be used in a Trump campaign ad to paint Democrats as “crazy,” as Trump declared in his State of the Union speech.
“It’s possible,” Carville conceded, adding that his diatribe came straight from him, unscripted.
“I want to be very clear. This is something personal. It came from inner me. It did not come from the political consultant side,” he said. “I did it because I see people all the time that are like me—they’re in pain.”
Carville also said if his goal had been political effectiveness, he would have focused on the soaring gas prices tied to Trump’s war with Iran.
