Democratic strategist James Carville in a Wednesday video appeared incensed about Americans who call the United States a “republic” rather than a “democracy.”
Several supporters of former President Donald Trump recently told CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan America is a republic, with the reporter characterizing their responses as an “attack on democracy.” Carville on “James Carville Explains” said these Americans are foolish and their statements are stupid, despite Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution guaranteeing states a “republican” form of government, and documents showing John Adams and Alexander Hamilton expressing skepticism about pure democracy.
WATCH:
“They did this thing and they’re interviewing these people. And he says, ‘We’re not a democracy, we’re a republic. We’re not a democracy, we’re a republic.’ An so finally, the guy says, ‘What is a republic?’ And of course, there I am. Let me name a republic for you: North Korea, okay? Iran calls itself a republic. Remember the DGR, the German Democratic Republic? And so, about all it means, to the extent other than just people referring to themselves and I don’t think North Korea is approaching a democracy. Of course it’s not, or Iran, or remember the USSR? What was the ‘R’ in the USSR?”
“Alright, so it’s colossally stupid. It doesn’t even account for anything and these people are giant fools,” Carville continued. “And of course, you read or study this in ninth grade … it’s a representative democracy, not a participatory democracy. And they’ll point to some town in New Hampshire where the whole town votes on something. But just people have no idea what the fuck they’re talking about and they just blabber the stupidest shit that you can imagine. And that is the big talking point: ‘Well, we’re a republic, we’re not a democracy.’ What the fuck is a republic? Anybody can call themselves a republic. I give the Brits credit, at least they don’t try to pretend.”
Historian Anne Applebaum in the CNN segment blamed Trump’s orbit for Americans denying that the United States is a democracy.
“You are hearing people say America is not a democracy because there are people around Trump who want them to be saying that, who’ve been planting that narrative,” Applebaum asserted.
James Madison described the distinctions between pure democracies and republics in The Federalist Number 10.
Carville in a podcast episode aired Thursday sounded the alarm about “Hispanic males” ditching the Democratic Party in part due to “Democratic culture ha[ving] too many preachy females.”
“We’re gonna lose Hispanic males. We’re gonna fuckin’ lose ’em,” he said.
