Bernie Sanders Tells James Carville to Kick Rocks: ‘Start His Own Party’ If He Doesn’t Like Socialism

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a socialist who caucuses with Democrats, had strong words for Democratic stalwart James Carville.

In an interview with CNN’s Abby Phillip on Tuesday, Sanders told Carville to “start his own party” if he does not like the Democrats’ ongoing socialist insurgency, particularly as personified by left-wing influencer Hasan Piker.

“Well, that’s not much of a choice,” Sanders replied when Phillip asked him to choose between Carville and Piker.

The Vermont socialist made those remarks during Tuesday’s primary elections. Of special interest to Sanders, fellow socialist Abdul El-Sayed narrowly prevailed in the Democrats’ Senate primary for Michigan.

“If Mr. Carville doesn’t want to be in my party, in the party that I belong to, that Piker, that El-Sayed belongs to, he can start his own party,” Sanders added.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Carville stressed that the Democratic Party does not have room for both him and Piker.

“I am not going to be in the same party with Hasan Piker,” Carville said. “If he becomes a force in the Democratic Party, I’m out of here.”

Carville and Sanders’ comments appeared side-by-side in a clip posted to the social media platform X.

Carville: I don’t want to be in the same party as Hasan Piker, if he becomes a force, I’m out of here.

Bernie: If he doesn’t want to be in my party with Piker, Carville can start his own party.

Your move, James. pic.twitter.com/7RFEkYX870

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) August 5, 2026

The Anti-Defamation League has characterized Piker as a “prominent Twitch streamer and political commentator who has a history of rhetoric that sanitizes violence and denigrates Jewish people” — rhetoric he s with his more than 11 million followers on social media.

Carville, of course, rose to prominence as now-former President Bill Clinton’s chief strategist in the 1992 presidential election.

Sanders, meanwhile, campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. The socialist lost those races to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and now-former President Joe Biden, respectively.

In recent years, however, the party’s extreme left wing has surged. Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City, a socialist, upset former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York to win the Big Apple’s 2025 mayoral race.

In June, three Mamdani-endorsed socialist U.S. House candidates in New York defeated their establishment opponents in Democrat primaries.

Since then, the socialist wave has not receded. Instead, it has spread to other states, with El-Sayed’s victory on Tuesday in Michigan representing the latest example.

Notwithstanding Carville’s objections, Democrat voters are increasingly open to socialism.

Meanwhile, Sanders reportedly views Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as heiress to his national movement. That movement, however, has achieved enough strength that Sanders insiders see a potential challenge to Ocasio-Cortez, namely from Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California.

Apparently, socialism’s current strength also emboldened Sanders to tell a party legend not to let the door hit him on the way out.

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