Carville said former President Donald Trump has been the most recognizable figure in politics “since he moseyed down that golden escalator in 2015” in an op-ed published in the New York Times. Despite his and other Democrats’ frustration with Trump’s all-encompassing presence, Carville argued it offers Harris the clearest path to victory because she is still relatively unknown and can be viewed as the “change” candidate.

“Whether they hate him or love him, people know exactly what Mr. Trump’s shtick is,” Carville wrote.

“This is why, despite every terrible consequence of his presidency, Mr. Trump’s approval rating has never much strayed from the mid- to low 40s for nearly a decade. No matter his divisive policies, COVID, the indictments, who his No. 2 was or whatever bile he spewed on social media, the jury of public opinion on Donald Trump is settled,” Carville continued.

Carville’s advice came out days after Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Harris campaign’s chairwoman, released a memo referring to the vice president and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as the “clear underdogs” despite their leads in several poll aggregators.

Carville also directed Harris to “help Trump hurt himself” in the Sept. 10 debate on ABC News.

“Ms. Harris must enable exactly what his campaign is scared to death of: letting Trump be Trump. She should let him talk over her. Not just let him but goad him into spouting insane conspiracy theories about the previous election. She should use her sense of humor at key moments to get under his skin and show he’s not getting to her,” he wrote.

He pointed to Harris’s recent CNN interview, in which she did not comment on Trump’s personal attacks on her racial identity, and said Harris should take a similar approach on the debate stage and “welcome the personal attacks as a badge of honor.”

Carville also advised Harris to break from President Joe Biden’s policies “to be the certified fresh candidate.” 

“Ms. Harris must clearly and decisively break from Mr. Biden on a set of policy priorities she believes would define her presidency,” Carville wrote.

In his final point of advice to the Harris campaign, Carville advised Harris to “display a clear growth mindset from the 2020 Democratic primaries.” While the 2020 Democratic primaries were a race to the left for the majority of candidates, those opposed to Harris have focused on her policy flip-flops since then.

Carville noted her policy reversals will “be a consistent plotline deployed at her throughout this campaign” but that “it is vital that she give the same answer every time to these attacks. The retort can be simple: I learned from my time governing in the White House. These are my positions. Take it or leave it.”