Long-time Democratic Party operative James Carville has had some harsh criticism for his party’s leader in the aftermath of last month’s presidential election. Most recently, he participated in a podcast during which the topic of Joe Biden’s late exit from the race was discussed. According to The Hill: “The different scenario would be, if he would have — in September of 2023 or August — said that he wasn’t going to run. Goddamn, we would have won this election,” he said on the latest episode of his podcast, “Politics War Room.” “And it wouldn’t have been that close, because we would have had so many frickin’ talented people that were running, and he would be sitting here right now getting ready to leave on a high note. They would be naming commissions to figure out what are we going to name after him.” He added that Biden “knows he f‑‑‑ed up” and would have been “the toast of Washington” had he made different choices. A series of other remarks by the one-time Bill Clinton campaign strategist have become the subject of social media discussion in recent months: Doesn’t Democrat strategist James Carville sound like he has one foot out of the door of the Democrat plantation? pic.twitter.com/23ezqyLQdh — • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ • (@4Mischief) May 29, 2024 He must be taking the same pills they give Biden when they need to get him to put two words together. He’s flying high in this rant, boy. Watch it, if only for a chuckle. #Carville pic.twitter.com/4h1dnUdViX — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 30, 2024 AUDIT: Democrats want to know how Kamala Harris spent $1.5 billion in in 15 weeks while leaving a +$20M debt. Where did the money go? How much went to her family and friends? James Carville is sounding the alarm that she may have misused the funds. pic.twitter.com/lhwXkWBVj5 — @amuse (@amuse) November 30, 2024 In the same podcast interview, however, Carville stopped short of criticizing Biden for repeatedly lying about pardoning his son, suggesting instead that any American who believed him should have known better. According to the New York Post: The strategist dismissed the outcry over the pardon, suggesting that no one should’ve believed the president when he and the White House repeatedly declared that Hunter wouldn’t be pardoned. “Alright, so he said, ‘I’d never pardon the kid.’ OK. I don’t believe any – When anybody says, ‘I never had sex with that person,’ or, ‘I’d never pardon my kid,’ I don’t pay any attention to it, ‘cause I think everybody lies about sex and everybody is going to do what they’re going to do with their own children,” Carville explained. Here’s a clip of his most recent comments: James Carville articulates why Joe Biden is the most tragic figure in American politics:“If he would have in September of 2023 wasn’t going to run, goddamn we would have won this election, it wouldn’t have been that close.” Wouldn’t have won, but anyone was better than Kamala. pic.twitter.com/HuWdD5JO2J — Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) December 6, 2024

Among the most highly anticipated plans for President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is the creation of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The task force is being helmed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, but many others on the right are supporting the cause in their own ways. For example, The Hill recently reported that Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is drafting some complementary legislation: “Senator Blackburn is planning to introduce a package of bills – known as the DOGE Acts – aimed at holding the federal government more accountable for managing taxpayer dollars next week,” Blackburn’s spokesperson said in a statement. “The DOGE Acts coincides with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to make the federal government more efficient.” The legislation “would cut discretionary spending, move federal agencies out of the swamp, freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year, begin the process of a merit-based compensation structure for federal employees, and require agencies to get employees back in the office,” according to the statement. The bills in the package would create a commission centered on the relocation away from D.C. of some federal agencies; cause a yearlong pause in federal hiring and salaries; and make the federal government have a pilot program in which civilian employees would be compensated in relation to their merit. The DOGE concept in general has fueled a flurry of social media speculation in recent weeks: This I am for less government messing in our lives How about you? #RIPPeanut #DOGE pic.twitter.com/XFneh59pQN — ??? ??????? (@CL4WS_OUT) December 6, 2024 Here’s an easy one for @DOGE !ELIMINATE foreign aid! It’s taking money from the poor and middle class in the US and giving it to the rich in poor countries – with a cut to the facilitators in between! Americans don’t want their government to borrow more money to spend on… pic.twitter.com/hbjfUNGWGW — Ron Paul (@RonPaul) December 6, 2024 BREAKING: Like DOGE, Speaker Mike Johnson plans to defund Planned Parenthood, which receives millions in federal tax dollars and kills around 1,500 to 3,000 babies per day. Good. No American should be funding them. pic.twitter.com/I0SX65UOlw — Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) December 5, 2024 Why the hell do the US taxpayers pay $15 million a year for Fauci to have personal security? DOGE, please do something about this. — Jack (@jackunheard) December 7, 2024 No one on the government payroll should be on the DOGE… Certainly not congressmen, they had their chance to make cuts and NEVER did. pic.twitter.com/PcXevl2nDM — Carl Higbie (@CarlHigbie) December 6, 2024 While lawmakers like Blackburn seem to be stepping up, some on the right worry that other legislators won’t have the stomach to make the extensive cuts being proposed by DOGE. According to Fox News: “The problem’s in that room,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., referring to other GOP lawmakers who met with Musk and Ramaswamy. “These guys, you know, they talk real tough,” but they did not vote in ways he believed showed they were serious about cutting spending. “You don’t see a lot of that. Now, when is that going to start? Is it going to start just because Elon and Vivek [address us]?” Burchett asked. “I just worry about us losing steam. … We’ve got to get some guts, and people have got to hold us accountable.” Retiring Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., told Fox News “a lot of members” stood up to suggest ways to “save money” during Thursday afternoon’s brainstorming session with Republicans and the DOGE duo. “One would think more of them would have been willing to vote, cast votes on the floor of the House in order to do those things early,” Bishop added. Here’s some additional discussion about DOGE and its mission:

I guess maybe we just haven’t sent over enough billions yet for President Zelensky to buy a proper suit and dress shoes? The man is an absolute disgrace… President Macron doesn’t exactly command respect either, but at least he knows how to put on a suit for a meeting with world leaders. To quote the great Ben Garrison, “Zelensky is clearly out of his league”: pic.twitter.com/NyegvAo50n Zelensky is out of his league…this ain’t a Biden presidency anymore — Real Ben Garrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) December 7, 2024 He seriously wore a sweatsuit to the Presidential Palace: “He wore a sweatsuit to the Presidential palace. Can you believe this guy?” pic.twitter.com/Dhx0z4bYZ1 — johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 7, 2024 Here was President Trump’s arrival: President Donald J. Trump arrives for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron pic.twitter.com/QT72QwpstH — Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) December 7, 2024 They literally rolled out the red carpet for him: Trump with French President Emmanuel Macron pic.twitter.com/zmZQdUDnPP — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 7, 2024 Looks a bit awkward and tense: NOW: President Trump is now meeting with Macron and Zelensky in France Hopefully Trump will tell Zelensky to go pound sand.pic.twitter.com/bRX58ZOScb — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 7, 2024 Who let the slob in? Who let the slob in? pic.twitter.com/5mPRc7jnrV — Noah Christopher (@DailyNoahNews) December 7, 2024 And I love this one…. Seven years later and the handshake battle resumes: 7 years later and the handshake battle continues between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron. pic.twitter.com/hV0uKKan8b — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 7, 2024 So good! Here are more details on the meeting, from France24: French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a bilateral meeting Saturday with US president-elect Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Notre-Dame Cathedral re-opening ceremony, the Elysée presidential palace said Friday. Macron’s meeting with Trump will be followed by another bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said a statement from the Elysée presidential palace. It was unclear, however, whether the three leaders would hold a joint meeting and no Trump-Zelensky meeting has been officially confirmed. Ukrainian sources told AFP that there were efforts to arrange a meeting between Trump and Zelensky in Paris. “The president of Ukraine will attend the celebrations on the occasion of the restoration of the cathedral of Notre-Dame. He will meet with President (Emmanuel) Macron,” a source in the Ukrainian government told AFP. The Ukrainian source said “other meetings are also possible, in particular with president-elect Donald Trump, who will also attend the event.” Trump and Zelensky are among around 40 world leaders on the VIP guestlist for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday. Trump has vowed to force a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, boasting during campaigning that he could do so in “one day”, with US weapon supplies crucial to Kyiv’s battle against invading Russian troops. A major diplomatic gathering Trump’s attendance has turned the Notre-Dame event into a major diplomatic gathering, with many visiting heads of state and government hoping to build relations with the mercurial Republican before his January 20 inauguration. Zelensky’s government has been pleading for new weaponry from the outgoing US administration of President Joe Biden as its forces buckle across the eastern front in the face of a grinding pre-winter offensive from Russia. Moscow said Friday its forces had captured a village near the embattled supply hub of Pokrovsk and another near the industrial town of Kurakhove, gaining further ground in two key areas of the east Ukraine frontline. Analysts say the next few months will be crucial as both sides jostle for battlefield momentum ahead of what are expected to be peace negotiations imposed by Trump. Fears in Ukraine about major territorial concessions increased after the US leader named Keith Kellogg, a retired general and critic of US military aid, as his Ukraine envoy last month. Biden’s administration announced an additional $725 million military package for the country on Monday.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Saturday that a predawn assault on a security post and intelligence-driven counterinsurgency raids in its northwestern province bordering Afghanistan killed at least six troops and 22 militants. The military’s media wing said that the violence occurred in several districts, including Tank and North Waziristan. The statement identified the slain militants as “khwarij,” a term employed by the government to categorize insurgents affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a globally recognized terrorist organization. Area security officials said that dozens of heavily armed TTP militants staged a multipronged attack on the security outpost in the town of Thall, resulting in the deaths of six paramilitary troops and injuries to several others in the ensuing gun battles. The TTP reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack but did not comment on its casualties in the reported military raids elsewhere. Intensified TTP-led attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and separatist ethnic Baloch insurgents in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan, have resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, including many security personnel this year alone, according to official data. Pakistan alleges TTP leaders and fighters orchestrate terrorism from Afghan hideouts with the support of the neighboring country’s Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country. Taliban leaders reject the charges, saying they are not allowing anyone to use Afghanistan to threaten other countries, including Pakistan.

Jaime Harrison, the outgoing chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), whose four-year tenure expires at the end of the year, urged Democrats to resist calls to abandon “identity politics.” Identity politics is unfair, racist, and un-American. It’s likely unconstitutional since it’s about a corrupt distortion of the word ‘equity’ and abandons equality. Harrison thinks […] The post Outgoing DCN Chair: Keep Racist Identity Politics as Party Central appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.