Nota Bene: James Carville’s Warning for Woke Activists in the Democratic Party
Plus, the perils of multiculturalism and a warning to lawmakers from Moody’s.

Political strategist James Carville, one of the few remaining centrists in the Democratic orbit, has a warning for the ideologues who have taken over President Biden’s Democratic party: “Wake the f— up!”
In an appearance on Bill Maher’s podcast this week, the man, famous for helping Democrats regain control of the White House in 1992 after 12 years of Reaganism by tacking to the center with Bill Clinton, warned that extremism in his own party is driving away moderate voters.
Mr. Carville said identity-obsessed liberals have taken over the party and are steering it in the wrong direction. He described these activists, who he said have co-opted the term “woke,” as clueless naifs who project an aura of “coastal arrogance” by lecturing Americans about what to do and what not to do. “They’re not evil,” he said. “They’re just goofy.”
“Overeducated, coastal White people, got a hold of the word and [just as] they do with everything else, they completely f—ed it up and pissed everybody in the country off,” the famously foul-mouthed curmudgeon said. “If we could just get the humanities faculty at Amherst to shut the f— up, we’d be a lot better off.”
Mr. Carville sounded a similar refrain in an interview with the New York Times last week about the growing concern within the party over the Democrats’ presumed candidate in 2024. “The voters don’t want this, and that’s in poll after poll after poll,” he said of the Biden candidacy. “You can’t look at what you look at and not feel some apprehension here.”
The Perils of Multiculturalism
The Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Suella Braverman, addressed policymakers at the American Enterprise Institute at Washington Tuesday as part of a lecture on her nation’s security cooperation with the United States and the challenges presented by current global migration patterns. In it, she described the uncontrolled and illegal migration now overwhelming both America and Europe as an “existential challenge” to the West’s political and cultural institutions and said the policies of multiculturalism that have dominated the debate in recent decades are doing more harm than good.
“Uncontrolled immigration, inadequate integration and a misguided dogma of multiculturalism have proven a toxic combination for Europe over the last few decades,” Ms. Braverman said. “Multiculturalism makes no demands of the newcomer to integrate. It has failed because it has allowed people to come to our society and lead parallel lives in it. They could be in the society, but not of society. And in extreme cases they could pursue lives aimed at undermining the stability and threatening the security of our society.”
A Ratings Warning From Moody’s
The last major ratings agency to maintain a coveted AAA rating on America’s national debt, Moody’s, lobbed a shot across the bow of lawmakers at Washington Monday with a warning that the now-regular dust-ups in Congress over spending and ensuing government shutdowns could threaten that rating if they continue, costing the country dearly.
In its rebuke, the agency said in so many words that even Germany and Canada have their fiscal houses in order compared to the United States. If the current trend continues, the agency said, America can expect to be paying nearly three times what it does now to service the debt by 2033.
“Congress’ consistent inability to agree on annual budgets and pass appropriations funding suggests that it is unlikely that successive governments will be able to implement fiscal measures that will materially slow the expected decline in debt affordability,” the agency says.
The two other major ratings agencies, Standard & Poors and Fitch, downgraded America’s ratings in 2011 and August of this year respectively.
Also Noteworthy:
- A NBC News poll suggests that Republicans have a 21-point advantage over Democrats on which party better handles the economy, the party’s best showing since 1991.
- A Tuesday report from the National Retail Federation says store owners lost an estimated $112 billion in 2022 due to “shrinkage,” the industry term for shoplifting and employee theft.
- Elon Musk will visit the U.S.-Mexico border this week for some reason.
- American workers are not on board with Mr. Biden’s “Green Dream.”
- Drivers fed up with climate activists blocking traffic in Europe have taken to pepper-spraying them.
- Governor Newsom signed the bill that fines local school boards if they reject the state’s “inclusive” textbook and curriculum standards.