By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-07 01:54:37 | Updated at 2024-12-23 06:30:52
2 weeks ago
Democratic strategist James Carville criticized President Joe Biden in a podcast interview calling him 'the most tragic figure in American politics in my lifetime.'
The legacy Clinton-era strategist expressed his unvarnished opinion of Biden as he prepares to leave office in January to his former rival and now president-elect Donald Trump.
'All of this. It's all so f***ing self-inflicted. It's tragic, it's sad,' Carville said during an interview on the Politics War Room podcast for Politicon.
He added that Biden made a huge mistake by running for reelection and that the vice president knew he 'f***d up' by running again.
'[I]f he would have in September of 2023 or August said that he wasn’t going to run, go***mn, we would have won this election,' Carville said.
Carville also expressed his frustration with Biden's decision to issue a broad-based pardon for his son Hunter Biden, which he described as 'an indefensible act of nepotism.'
'I think Hunter Biden illicitly traded on the family name,' he said, adding that Biden's decision would hurt Democrats politically and give Trump political leverage in the future.
Carville argued that if Biden had stepped down earlier, allowing a Democrat more time to campaign and win, a Democratic successor could have pardoned or commuted Hunter's sentence with a lot less controversy.
US President Joe Biden leaves after attending the 102nd National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
Former Bill Clinton strategist James Carville delivered a brutal verdict on Joe Biden's legacy
'It didn't have to be this way, he brought it all on himself,' he said.
Carville compared Biden's legacy to that of failed presidents like Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson.
'I actually feel for Biden in that he knows that he f***ed up, and he wasn't crooked, he didn't pursue bad policies, he is the most tolerant loving caring no-prejudice person you could possibly imagine and this is what he's faced with. It's a f***ing shame,' he concluded.
On the campaign trail, president-elect Trump repeatedly branded Biden as the worst president in history for presiding over inflationary policies, government spending, and global political upheaval.
A new exclusive Daily Mail / J.L Partners poll revealed that American voters agree with Trump, who say he is even worse than former President Jimmy Carter.
Biden has a -30 approval ranking, worse than former President Richard Nixon, who is at - 25, and President Jimmy Carter, who ends up with a net zero ranking.
The poll of 1006 registered voters asked them to rank the last nine presidents from best to worst. Biden came in last, the worst president in 47 years.
James Johnson, cofounder of J.L. Partners, acknowledged there was some 'recency bias' that hurt Biden as the current incumbent president, but the result was worse than he expected.
'Voters have obviously looked at his age, general conduct in office, his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation at the southern border, and decided that, in their view, it qualifies him to be the worst president in modern history,' he said.
Biden, 82, leaves office on January 20, 2025.
