Democratic strategist James Carville dropped a political bombshell when he predicted that the president could ultimately walk away from office.
“I don’t think Trump matters that much anymore. I think he’s a washed-up, fat, old man,” Carville told MSNBC host Ari Melber on Saturday while discussing a Wall Street Journal exposé that detailed the president’s fixation on fundraising and the vanity projects he has pursued while in office.
Carville, 81, then delivered a prediction about President Donald Trump’s future so unexpected that Melber questioned whether the veteran Democratic strategist was “trolling” him.
“I think he’s gonna have a massive loss in November, and I’ve said this repeatedly: I think he’s going to walk away,” Carville said of the 80-year-old president, arguing that Trump is no longer “capable of leading the country” and lacks the “energy” and “intellect” to manage the mounting crises surrounding his administration.
Melber quickly sought to clarify that he had heard Carville correctly, asking whether by “walk away” he meant the president would “quit.” Carville, without hesitation, confirmed that was exactly what he meant.
“He is not skilled enough, he is not tough enough, he is not going to be able to deal with the massive defeat coming his way,” the Democratic strategist said.
The president has faced a string of setbacks since the beginning of the year, with the biggest coming from the Iran war—a conflict Trump predicted would last just four to six weeks, but that has now dragged into its sixth month with no resolution in sight and rising gas prices adding to the pressure.
This week alone, Trump saw two Republican senators refuse to back his attorney general nominee, effectively stalling the confirmation vote, while the Senate also blocked progress on his controversial SAVE America Act, a flagship election bill that would introduce new proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration and other election rules that critics argue could make it harder for some eligible Americans to vote.
Even smaller defeats have appeared to get under Trump’s skin. On Saturday, the president lashed out at his own appointee, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, after she said the failure of Trump’s $16 million Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation was not caused by “vandals,” as he had claimed, but by a “flawed installation by the contractors.”
All of that comes as poll after poll shows Republicans facing potential losses in the upcoming November midterm elections.
Still, Trump appears determined to ignore the mounting warning signs, repeatedly dismissing an affordability crisis even as rising prices threaten his support among his own base.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, 37, who served as White House strategic communications director during Trump’s first term, told CNN that advisers inside the White House “simply want him to focus on the economy, yet he will not do that.”
A CNN poll released the same day as Griffin’s comments showed Trump’s approval rating had fallen to a striking 34 percent, a level the network noted was his lowest since the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot at the end of his first term.
The poll came as Griffin warned that the president’s refusal to acknowledge voters’ concerns over the cost-of-living crisis will spell trouble for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
Though the president has shown no indication that he plans to “walk away,” as Carville predicted, and has even floated the unconstitutional possibility of a third term, questions about his future in office have persisted, with the Daily Beast closely tracking reports and concerns surrounding his physical and cognitive health.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
