The end of the road is here. The Democrats are planning to close up shop.
Because a Democrat insider has confessed the Democrat Party is finished and that the damage is done.
There’s no overstating just how bad the 2024 election cycle was for the Democrats. They lost control of the White House and the U.S. Senate, and the Republicans were able to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. That is bad enough, but what makes this past cycle so bad for the Democrats is that they came out of this bruised and battered with no clear path forward anymore. They put all their eggs in this basket and even claimed as much throughout the entire 2024 cycle.
Democrat Party officials and operatives have been talking about a party split or a party reform after this past cycle. Though there’s no clear sect of the Democrat Party that seems to be able to carve the path forward and chart the path. The infighting is only seemingly going to get worse with no cohesive ideas and agendas that they have to bring to the American people that will resonate with them. The American people overwhelmingly rejected their main agenda items.
One Democrat insider even seems to think that the Democrat Party has suffered damage that there is no recovering from. This would seem to indicate that the party is on its way out from relevancy in American politics and may even be forced to shut down. They noted that fundraising is going to be a huge problem, which is a cornerstone of modern politics.
James Carville Critiques the Democratic Party’s Decline and Image Crisis
In a candid assessment of the state of the Democratic Party, veteran strategist James Carville expressed concern over what he described as the party’s lowest point in history. Appearing on Politics War Room Thursday, Carville discussed the party’s struggle to present inspiring presidential candidates and its diminishing influence, pointing out a stark contrast since the tenure of former President Barack Obama.
Carville makes these harsh criticisms after the Democrats have suffered many severe setbacks, including the defeat of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by President-elect Donald Trump in 2016, and the loss to Trump again in 2024, following a brief victory by President Joe Biden in 2020 amidst the pandemic. Carville referenced low Democratic voter turnout in the 2024 elections, noting the disillusionment among the party’s base, and particularly pointing to a recent article by Michael Podhorzer, a former political director for the AFL-CIO, as a reflection of this troubling trend.
“Do you want kind of bad news and let’s just pile it on? The image of the Democratic Party is at an all-time low. Democratic turnout in 2024 was not good,” Carville said, lamenting the party’s inability to inspire voters in the same way Obama did. “There’s a great piece by Michael Podhorzer, who’s a friend of the show, who’s been on there. Trump didn’t really do any better than he did in 2020 as Democrats did worse.”
Carville, who has long been a voice of Democratic strategy, did not hold back in his critique of the party’s leadership. While he expressed respect for key figures such as Clinton, Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, he made it clear that none of these leaders had achieved the level of inspiration that Obama sparked during his re-election bid. “And the truth of the matter is, and I have great respect and admiration for Secretary Clinton, for President Biden, even a good deal for Vice President Harris, but we have not had an inspirational presidential candidate since Obama ran for re-election,” Carville stated. “And that’s what most people do. The image of the party is one of being urban, old, out of touch.”
Carville also touched on a more recent issue that has further exacerbated the party’s struggles — the significant damage caused to the Democratic “brand” during Harris’ brief presidential campaign, a run that reportedly cost the party nearly $1.5 billion. Carville warned in late November that this campaign and the broader decade-long trajectory had left a lasting negative impact on the Democratic Party’s public perception and fundraising ability.
“The resistance is going to have trouble raising money. These fundraisers are burnt,” Carville remarked. “They’re really pissed now, and the damage that the 2024 campaign has done — the damage that this decade has done to the Democratic brand — is almost unfathomable. Almost unfathomable.”
In his December comments, Carville went even further, criticizing the party for what he perceived as its suppression of dissent on crucial issues such as s*x-change surgeries and border policy. He accused the party’s leadership of fostering a culture in which questioning certain policies was equated to being opposed to civil rights or women’s suffrage. “Anybody that questions the absolute, unquestionable benefits of transition surgery is going to be called this equivalent of being against civil rights or being against women having the right to vote,” Carville said, highlighting the dangers of stifling open debate within the party.
Similarly, Carville spoke out against the party’s stance on immigration, warning that those who proposed different approaches to border policies were unfairly branded as racists. “If you say the border, we should have had something different — well, that makes you a racist,” he stated. “If you say that we should proceed with caution on this transition surgery … then you’re slammed. And the tyranny of the left is tyranny. And not only tyranny that it causes people grief, it loses us elections, people.”
Carville’s harsh words go to show a growing sense of frustration within the Democratic Party, as many strategists and insiders fear that the party’s brand will continue to erode. The lack of a clear, compelling vision and the absence of a unifying, charismatic leader may be among the reasons that the Democratic base has become increasingly disengaged. The party faces real challenges both in terms of voter turnout and internal discourse.
The Conservative Column will update you on any further statements from Democrat Party officials and insiders in the wake of their major 2024 losses.
