Carville: Democrats should ‘play possum’ for now: ‘This freight train is moving’

Democratic strategist James Carville argued that political actors in his party should “play possum” right now, as grassroots organizing pops up across the country, noting that the “freight train is moving.”

Carville joined MSNBC’s “The Beat” on Monday, where host Ari Melber asked him to weigh into the nationwide protests against the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“This is happening all around the country. So, the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? And I think they should do is, what we call in rural America, play possum. Just let it go. Don’t get in the way of it, or as we like to say, don’t just stand there, do nothing,” Carville said. “Let this germinate.”

Carville said Democrats don’t need to get in front of the American people because they are already demonstrating on their own.

“This freight train is moving,” he said. “Let’s just get out of the way, and then we’re gonna have time.”

Carville invoked a quote from the 1989 movie "Road House," noting that he wants Democrats to be nice, “until it’s time to not be nice.”

“And that time is coming shortly,” he said.

Opponents of Trump used Presidents Day to plan protests across the country. Declaring Feb. 17 as “No Kings Day,” there were several signs in various cities targeting Trump’s executive power and Musk as an unelected official working with DOGE.

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