Veteran political strategist James Carville says President Donald Trump is setting himself up for a massive blunder by staging his midterm convention “scam.”
The 80-year-old president and the ever-obliging Republican National Committee are putting on a two-day “midterm convention” in Dallas this month.
Trump appears to believe the event will give his party a much-needed boost ahead of the midterms, amid fears that the GOP will suffer an electoral wipeout.
But Carville, the Democratic strategist behind Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory, told The Daily Beast Podcast that the attention-hungry president will only supercharge an already-energized Democratic electorate while setting GOP money on fire.
He argued that the more oxygen the president’s MAGA spectacle gets, the more it could suffocate Republicans’ midterm chances.
“The stupidest s--t I hear is we shouldn’t give them platforms,” he told the Daily Beast’s political reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice. “And for God’s sake, cover this convention wall to wall. It’s the most beneficial thing we got going.”
“You’re not gonna come up with any better news that’s gonna excite... and irritate and turn out more Democrats,” he added.
It appears plenty of Republicans have already figured out that a starring role alongside the deeply unpopular president at what some GOP circles are calling “Trump-a-palooza” could be a political death wish.
At least 45 House Republican candidates and members told Politico on Wednesday that they would skip the Sept. 9-10 event.
Dozens more declined to say whether they plan to attend.
“They don’t want to show up in one sense, but they know they can’t disrespect the king in another,” Carville said.
The 81-year-old strategist argued the convention would only boost a candidate in a “really hardcore Trump place—maybe somebody from, like, North Louisiana, it might help them, or somebody from, you know, central Alabama, maybe.”
One anonymous House Republican not attending the convention told Politico, “You shouldn’t be having to rally your base at this point,” adding, “You should be trying to convince independents. Independents are not attending nor watching the midterm convention.”
But as is often the case with the billionaire president, Trump has also found a way to turn the GOP pep rally into a cash grab.
Republican House candidates and members face an eye-watering $25,000 entrance fee. A seat at a roundtable with Trump costs $250,000, according to an invitation obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Donors who then want their photo taken with the president must pay $88,600 more.
“How’d he come up with $88,600?” Carville said. “It’s a giant scam. A seat costs a quarter of a million dollars... It’s all a grift, it’s all a scam. It’s a giant money-making operation.”
When reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast, “James Carville is a stone-cold loser who suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome, and it has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
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