Longtime Democratic political strategist James Carville delivered advice to his party on MSNBC on Monday in his signature Southern style. The Louisiana native who goes by the nickname “Ragin’ Cajun” said: “What I think they should do is what we call in rural America play possum.”
Asked to consider what MSNBC characterized as a “nationwide revolt” against Donald Trump and Elon Musk‘s “radical” restructuring of the federal government and elimination of jobs, watchdogs, departments and agencies, Carville added: “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.’ Let this germinate.”
Carville did not suggest that the Democrats “do nothing” forever. He said: “In the immortal words of Dalton in ‘Road House,’ be nice until it’s time not to be nice,” Carville said. “And that time is coming shortly.”
As seen below, the late Hollywood movie star Patrick Swayze played the protagonist of the 1989 movie Road House — Dalton, a bouncer at a biker bar who fights against a ruthless crime boss (Ben Gazzara) who controls the small Missouri town.
Carville said the time for Democrats to “not be nice” is in November when Republicans — especially Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will step down (due to term limits).
[Democratic former Congresswoman and former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, are considered the front-runners for the job as Virginia Governor.]
Carville predicts that the thousands of federal employees who have been fired by the Trump administration and Musk’s DOGE team (many of whom live in northern Virginia) will “vote heavily” on Election Day.
Carville said: “Think about the turnout among federal employees. What percent of the voters in northern Virginia are federal employees or families of federal employees? Do you think they’re gonna vote? I think they’re gonna vote. I think I know which way they’re gonna vote, and they’re gonna vote heavily.”
[Whether Carville’s crystal ball is cloudy or not depends on which of his predictions you examine: the Ragin’ Cajun “doubled down” in October on his belief that Kamala Harris would win the presidential election, though he admitted then “I could be wrong.”]
According to the Congressional Research Service, as of December 2024, the federal civilian workforce in Virginia numbered 144,483 people.
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