Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville warned that President Donald Trump’s newly signed “Big Beautiful Bill” could spell disaster for Republicans in Congress, calling it a “mass extinction event” that will energize Democratic gains.
“Political anthropologists are going to look back at this and call it a mass extinction event,” Carville said Thursday during an appearance on CNN with Anderson Cooper. “A lot of Republicans are going to be extinct when voters go to the polls because of this.”
Carville predicted the fallout from Trump’s sweeping legislation could help Democrats flip more than 40 House seats in upcoming elections.
The bill, signed into law Friday, includes massive tax breaks for high-income earners and corporations while slashing more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, reducing food assistance for low-income families, and threatening the survival of rural hospitals. The Congressional Budget Office projects the legislation could add $3.3 trillion to the national debt.
Fellow Democratic strategist Paul Begala echoed Carville’s warning, arguing that Trump’s bill punishes the very voters who helped elect him.
“Medicaid is beloved. Trump won voters who rely on Medicaid,” Begala said. “A good politician rewards his voters. A great one expands his coalition. But a stupid politician punishes the people who put him in office.”
Begala cited recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation showing strong bipartisan support for Medicaid, including among Republicans. Most Americans, he noted, have some personal or family connection to the program.
Carville called Trump’s legislation “the most unpopular piece of legislation in history” and said it gives Democrats a clear, unifying message to run on.
“Every single Democrat voted against this — every one of them, no matter their background or ideology,” he said. “This is something we can all rally around. We can run on this issue all the way through 2026, and I’m telling you: we’re going to pick up more than 40 House seats.”
