James Carville on Friday took on Fox News after host Martha MacCallum tried to push back at his criticism of President Donald Trump as he weighs U.S. military action against Iran amid Israel’s war on the country.
The longtime Democratic strategist, when asked about Trump’s decision-making in a live Fox News appearance, reminded MacCallum of the network’s history covering the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq (and the resulting war).
“I’m old enough to remember 2002 when this network and everybody else was beating war drums as loud as you could beat war drums, and that there was every evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Of course, it turned out to be a giant lie,” he said of the Bush administration’s pretext for the invasion.
MacCallum interjected, “You think this is like that?”
Carville said, “I don’t know, but I do know that the government lied to me profoundly 22 years ago, that I do know, why would I trust this government more than I trust —”
MacCallum broke in to point to a clip she played earlier of David Albright, a nuclear weapons expert, who she said argued that “this is absolutely not Iraq.”
Carville jumped back in, “Again, you are free to beat the war drums as loud as you want to.”
MacCallum replied, “I’m not beating any war drums, I’m just reporting the facts.”
Another panelist, OutKick founder Clay Travis, hopped into the crosstalk before Carville hit back.
“Excuse me for speaking while you’re interrupting me,” Carville said.
He later continued by noting that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to the Senate in March that Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon, a comment that Trump has since dismissed.
“I think that he needs to take his time, they need to assess it and they need to give us a very clear rationale for why this step is necessary to start a war with 92 million people, that’s all I’m saying,” added Carville of Trump, who has insisted that Iran is a matter of weeks away from completing a nuclear weapon.
“And that country has 92 million people, half have a college degree, half of those are women, and I just don’t think it’s a good idea to rush headlong into a war. I’m sorry. I was skeptical in 2002 and I’m skeptical in 2025.”