The Democratic presidential primary is going the way of Vladimir Putin, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., emerging as a frontrunner and ostensibly paving the way for President Donald Trump's re-election, according to political strategist James Carville.
"This thing is going very well for Vladimir Putin," Carville told MSNBC on Saturday night as Sanders ran away with a victory in the Nevada caucuses. "I promise you. He's probably staying up watching us right now. How you doing, Vlad?"
Carville doubled up on the narrative Russia is helping Sanders' campaign, so he could get the Democratic presidential nomination, pitting a Democratic socialist against Trump in the general election in November.
"I mean, it's a straight line," Carville said. "I don't think that the Sanders campaign in any way is collusion or collaboration. I think they don't like this story, but the story is a fact, and the reason that the story is a fact is Putin is doing everything that he can to help Trump, including trying to get Sanders the Democratic nomination."
Sanders leads the nationwide delegate count after more than doubling up former Vice President Joe Biden in Nevada, around 47% to around 19.5%, according to the latest tally from AP. Sanders has already been declared the winner.
"It's obvious he's the frontrunner," Carville told MSNBC of Sanders. "It's obvious these other candidates have not sufficiently talked about him. It's obvious that he's never been vetted in the press.
"I'm not seeing the full-part series in The New York Times or The Washington Post or NBC News. We're in a whole new ball game here, and this game could end a little after mid-March, and some candidates are going to have to make really hard decisions about who stays in and who gets out and where we go from here."
Trump tweeted a rejection of Democrat pundits attempts to diminish the candidacy of Sanders:
"Looks like Crazy Bernie is doing well in the Great State of Nevada. Biden & the rest look weak, & no way Mini Mike can restart his campaign after the worst debate performance in the history of Presidential Debates. Congratulations Bernie, & don't let them take it away from you!"
Still, Carville ripped those believing Sanders is going to "galvanize heretofore sleepy parts of the electorate," calling them political fools.
"The entire theory that by expanding the electorate and increasing the turnout that you can win the election is the equivalent of climate denial," Carville said. "When people say that, they're as stupid to political science is as to a climate denier to an atmospheric science.
"If you're voting for him because you think he'll galvanize heretofore sleepy parts of the electorate, then politically you're a fool. And that's just a fact."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.