James Carville says Democrats can’t afford to lie like ‘Republicans do’

Democratic political strategist James Carville expressed frustration with the state of his party on his podcast Thursday, arguing that Republicans are able to get away with lying while Democrats are held to a higher standard of credibility. 

Talking to guest Ryan Lizza, a journalist, he said, “People say to me all the time, ‘James, why don’t we just do like the Republicans do? Just stand up and lie?’ Because our f—ing people wouldn’t stand for it!” Carville said. “If I stood up and lied, you would be the first person to say, ‘James Carville lost all credibility last night when he said X, Y and Z.’”

Carville, a longtime political talking head, was a top strategist for former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. 

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“Yeah, I can spin,” Carville continued. “I can shade. Everybody does that. They just look you right in the eye and lie!” He added, “And then our people say, ‘We ought to lie like them!’ No, we shouldn’t! ‘Cause they would not do that. It would not go over well.” 

President Clinton was impeached in 1998 by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice connected to his testimony about a relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The issue of authenticity came up more recently during the 2024 election. A new book claimed Democrats had major concerns about former President Joe Biden’s decline and cognitive abilities ahead of his June debate against President Donald Trump, despite publicly maintaining that the former president was fit to serve another four years. 

On the podcast, Carville also tore into President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, accusing him of pushing other countries into closer relations with “an odious country like China” because they can’t predict US trade strategy.

The political operative recently made headlines after he argued with Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg over the best strategy to help the party win elections in a heated debate on Wednesday. Tensions between the two began weeks earlier when Hogg announced plans to spend $20 million through his political organization Leaders We Deserve to primary-challenge older Democrats in blue districts. 

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Carville, one of the most influential voices in the Democratic Party who called on former President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, has responded to the split among Democrats as to Biden’s role. 

“And I think it’s fair to say that we’re long-time, at some level, admirers of Joe Biden,” Carville said on his podcast in January. “What he’s done to himself is, no one wants to hear from this guy anymore, OK?” 

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.