Veteran top Democratic strategist James Carville has alleged that the Biden campaign sent out a flood of fundraising text messages quoting him without authorization just hours after he predicted the president would drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Carville, who played a key role in helping former President Bill Clinton win his first presidential election in 1992, was named in the donation message sent late Saturday.
“Hello, this is James Carville. I’m asking you and all Democrats around the world to donate to the Biden-Harris campaign ASAP. Help us defeat Donald Trump,” the message read.
But Carville, The Washington Post He said he “never approved of it.”
Hours before the appeal for donations was sent, Carville Axios In an interview, he said he doesn’t think the 81-year-old president will still be running come Election Day.
When asked if Biden might back out, the political guru nicknamed the “Ragin’ Cajun” quoted the late economist Herb Stein’s famous line, “What can’t be sustained … won’t be sustained.”
“I never thought it was a clever idea” to begin with about Biden planning to run for reelection, Carville said, adding that there are only a handful of people the president actually listens to.
“He doesn’t have advisors, he just has employees.”
But the Biden campaign insisted that Carville’s team had “approved a robust fundraising package for our campaign, including today’s message.”
“The Carville team has signed a strong fundraising package for our campaign that includes today’s message,
“We appreciate all that has been done to help Joe Biden be re-elected to a second term,” the campaign spokesman added.
An email was also sent out Saturday in Carville’s name that read, “This is the most important election of our lifetimes. We are urging you to make your first donation of $25 today.”
It was not immediately clear whether Carville signed the email.
Carville has maintained he would still vote for Biden if he didn’t drop out of the election, and said just last month he hoped the Democratic incumbent would not run.
“It’s not a choice I was crazy about,” Carville acknowledged on 77WABC in early June, just weeks before Biden faced off in a disastrous showdown with former President Donald Trump.
“I didn’t think President Biden should run for reelection,” he added, “but he did. It’s him and Trump. And here I am.”
