Cagey Cajun: James Carville Compares David Hogg to Civil War Hero

‘It’s abominable that you have anything to do with the DNC,’ Carville told Hogg before likening him to Ulysses Grant

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville likened DNC vice chair David Hogg to Civil War hero and former president Ulysses S. Grant—just hours after blasting Hogg’s plan to primary the party’s own incumbents as “jackassery of the highest level.”

“Just called [Hogg],” Carville wrote in an X post Wednesday evening. “He reminded me of the story of, after the battle of Shiloh, Henry Halleck urg[ing] President Lincoln to fire Ulysses Grant. Lincoln said: ‘I can’t fire him. This man fights.’ David Hogg fights. The DNC needs him.”

Hours earlier, Carville, who calls himself the “Ragin’ Cajun,” had clashed with Hogg on the Tara Palmeri Show. Hogg’s plan to “go out and raise money to defeat” party incumbents while serving as “an official of a political party who is being paid or supported by that political party” is “jackassery of the highest level,” Carville told Hogg on the show.

“I’ll tell you right your face,” Carville went on: “I think it’s abominable that you have anything to do with the DNC.”

When Hogg tried to explain his plan, Carville said he didn’t understand.

“You’re not gonna raise money to run against Democrats, or you are gonna raise money to run against Democrats?” Carville asked.

“You have to understand the nuance here—” Hogg said.

“I don’t,” Carville interjected. “There’s no nuance to it. It’s just flat-out wrong. It’s flat-out wrong to use money that we could be [using] to beat Republicans to beat Democrats.”

The veteran strategist’s about-face comes as Hogg has faced intraparty backlash over his $20 million pledge to fund younger, more left-wing candidates to replace “ineffective, asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats in deep-blue House districts. DNC chairman Ken Martin, who has publicly criticized Hogg’s campaign, unveiled a proposal last week requiring all committee officials to remain neutral in Democratic primaries—effectively forcing Hogg to end the funding effort or resign as vice chair.

The DNC will also meet May 12 to review a challenge to Hogg’s election as vice chair, following allegations that the February vote was “fatally flawed” and “discriminated against three women of color candidates.”

Hogg has remained defiant, insisting that he will neither step down nor stop his campaign against incumbents.

The Wednesday appearance was not the first war of words between Carville, 80, and Hogg, 25. Carville last month called Hogg a “contemptible little twerp,” leading the youth activist to say that “Carville believes in a politics of being timid, of hiding.”