James Carville advises Dems to be patient and let Trump 'punch himself out'

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville pleaded with Democrats to let President Donald Trump "punch himself out," on MSNBC's "The Beat" with Katie Phang on Friday.

"I mean, look, he just says anything that he wants to say. I mean, how many stories do I have to read that the delta smelt has nothing to do with this, but he’s just going to keep plowing through? OK. And we have to learn as Democrats just let him punch himself out," said Carville, referencing Trump's comments accusing Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsome of prioritizing the endangered fish over protecting the state's residents from wildfires.

Carville expressed that Democrats need to take a page from Muhammad Ali's book, saying, "Just remember, this is a little bit before your time, but people of my generation remember Muhammad Ali and his rope-a-dope. He just let you just go… the first 6 or 7 rounds, and then you come in and you match up, and then you start launching bombs."

JAMES CARVILLE CALLS ON DEMOCRATS TO 'TONE IT DOWN' WITH 'IDIOTIC NPR JARGON'

As noted by Breitbart, he also warned Democrats to not lose the forest for the trees, and to keep their focus on whether Trump has fulfilled the key promises of his campaign, rather than fighting him on each small issue.

"It’s hard to sit here and just look at one, you know, Greenland, Canada, Panama Canal Zone, delta smelt that, you name it. But you just got to keep bobbing and weaving and bobbing and weaving. and then in due course you’re going to be able to come in. But the big thing is his number one promise, the biggest political promise this generation is he would get food prices down. Then he got into office and said, ‘There’s nothing I can do about it. Of course, eggs are $4 and something a dozen.’"

Carville believes that if Democrats resist the urge to fight Trump on every issue, and focus on the big picture, they'll be back in the saddle soon enough.

"He keeps distracting us and we keep getting distracted. But we’ll come back in and we’ll we’ll straddle this target and get it in range here before long, I think."

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These comments from Carvile come on the heels of similar comments made by the strategist recently. 

He told CNN's Michael Smeconish on Jan. 4 that Democrats focused too heavily on attacking Trump in the 2024 election, and that voters "don’t want an election about you or your opponent. And for too much, we lost that. I lost it myself. We made it about Trump and we didn‘t make it about voters."

Carville was a prominent media presence throughout the 2024 presidential race, advising his party on how to beat Trump and being critical of its messaging when he deemed it necessary.

Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.