Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville has issued a simple piece of advice to Democratic candidates ahead of the 2026 midterms: Make it all about Donald Trump.

MS NOW’s Ari Melber on Tuesday asked Carville what he thought of the argument that Democrats “still need the affirmative message of why this is not just anti-Trump, but [to] turn the page to helping people’s lives.”

Carville responded bluntly: “Why do they need to be for anything?”

“People are going to vote on Trump,” he said, noting that the president reportedly has a $400 million campaign war chest and will participate next week in the GOP’s first-ever midterm convention, which he predicted would be a failure.

“And my advice to Democrats is don’t — just do nothing, stand there,” Carville said, arguing that “the time for the Democratic message is going to be when we run for president” in the 2028 election.

The midterms will be “about one thing and one thing only,” he continued. “Do you want to continue in the same direction of Trump, or do you want to slow this train down? And I think clearly people want to slow it down.”

Watch the analysis here: