On election night, President Donald Trump posted an image of a red baseball cap bearing a single word: “VETO.”
A veteran Democratic strategist now says his party should give the president plenty of reasons to live up to it.
James Carville described his strategy Thursday on his Politicon podcast.
His proposal centers on the incoming Democratic majorities in Congress and the veto power Trump has said he is ready to use.
Democrats won control of both chambers in last week’s midterm elections. They will take over Congress in January, and Trump will have two years left in his term when they do.
Carville’s approach starts with the bills themselves. He wants Democrats to send Trump legislation that draws broad support from the public.
When the president rejects it, Carville wants Republicans to answer for that opposition.
Trump has not hidden his intentions. Before the election, he embraced the nickname “Mr. Veto.”
Carville offered a list of policies during the broadcast. “We do a popular thing,” he said. “Raise minimum wage, take a vote to defund the war in Iran.”
He kept going. “Have tax increases for income over $500,000 a year, start opening rural hospitals,” Carville continued. “Just take anything, something that has to be 75 percent popular with the public, it could go as low as 70, okay, and make them vote on it and make [him] veto it.”
Those percentages describe the level of public support Carville wants Democrats to look for. His examples covered wages, taxes, rural health care and the war in Iran.
The strategist framed the plan as more than a policy contest. He said Democrats are after something else.
“What they want is to humiliate Trump,” Carville said. “We want to watch him wither in anguish and misery and pain.”
Carville also tied the veto fights to the next presidential race. Under his approach, each bill Trump rejects would become campaign material as Democrats pursue the White House in 2028.
His remarks then moved to the Supreme Court.
Carville said a Democratic win in the presidency, paired with continued control of Congress, could allow the party to reshape the court, which has a conservative majority.
He hinted that the change could involve expanding the number of justices.
“I got news for them,” Carville said. “Nine ain’t fine.”
The court currently has nine members.
Trump has already prepared for a clash with the new Congress. His “Mr. Veto” nickname and his election-night cap post came before a single Democratic bill has reached his desk.
Democrats will take their seats in January. Carville’s proposal describes how he wants them to begin.
