Jim Clyburn Blames Media for Democrats’ Historic Unpopularity: ‘That’s What’s Killing Us’

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) blamed the media for being a big factor behind the Democratic Party’s historic unpopularity on MSNBC Friday night.

Clyburn joined The Last Word with guest host Ali Velshi, where the two discussed the challenges Democrats face in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.

Velshi raised the issue of the party’s lack of a cohesive national message — a criticism echoed by many in recent months.

“There are valid criticisms out there about the fact that there is not a cohesive message coming from the Democratic Party,” Velshi said. “What’s your take on that?”

Clyburn responded by defending the party’s messaging and faulted the press for failing to amplify it fairly.

“Well, I think the message coming from the Democratic Party is a good message,” Clyburn said. “The problem we’ve got, I’ll say, is that we have to depend upon the media to deliver it.”

He went on to accuse mainstream outlets of failing to adequately present Democratic Party messaging to audiences.

“If we have The Washington Post, for instance, caving to this wannabe dictator and we’ve got other media entities that seem to rather push a narrative that will bring eyes to their newspapers or to their television sets and not really give a fair hearing or reporting to what we’re doing,” Clyburn continued.

Clyburn added that he would soon host three town halls outside his district in order to convey his party’s message.

“I would hope that there are people outside of the audience taking in what we’re saying because my message is gonna be very, very coherent,” he said. “It’s going to be very – a little bit alarming. But it’s gonna be a message that I think everybody will understand if they were to hear it.”

Clyburn did praise MSNBC and Velshi for what he saw as fair coverage from them, but blasted the rest of the media.

“I have to rely upon people like yourself,” he said. “You do a great job with this. That’s why I like coming on your shows on the weekends because you do a real good substantive reporting of what the issues are around us.”

The veteran House Democrat concluded, “But when you’ve got people who say we’re not going to fact-check, we’re going to worry about whether or not you’re telling the truth. And just let the reports go out there. That’s what’s killing us as Democrats, because we don’t have a stomach for just lying.”

Watch above via MSNBC.