Undaunted by blown predictions and publicity schemes that backfired in the past, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick challenged longtime Democratic operative James Carville to an ego duel on Tuesday with an offer to bet him $100,000 that Donald Trump beats Kamala Harris at the polls in two weeks.
Patrick issued the dare on X in a post in response to Carville's claim on Monday that he's doubling down on his forecast for a Harris victory in the general election on November 5.
The powerful Republican leader predicted that Trump would win " decisively" with 312 electoral college votes compared to 297 for the vice-president.
The only major remaining obstacle for casinos in the Lone Star State, didn't phrase the proposal as an actual gamble. But Patrick said that he'd donate $100,000 to a charity for children that Carville could choose if Trump loses the election in exchange for the Democrat's vow to give the same amount to the lieutenant governor's favorite cause for kids if Trump takes the White House back. That in the Las Vegas parlance would be a six-figure gentlemen's wager with third-party beneficiaries.
Patrick, who serves as Trump's state campaign chairman, took the opportunity to shower insults on Harris and the Democrats in the social media proposition for the veteran consultant who guided Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and other Democrats to success at the national level and targeted states as well.
"Carville and the Democrats have totally lost touch with the average American," Patrick contended in a lengthy tweet. "Real people care about their safety and their pocketbook - which Kamala answers with an open border disaster. Real people don’t want boys playing girls’ sports, sharing bathrooms, or getting sued for using the wrong pronoun - yet Kamala answers with more woke policies."
Trump will hope that Patrick
has a better read on the upcoming election than he did when he assured activists at the Texas Republican Convention in May that challenger David Covey would oust state House Speaker Dade Phelan in a primary runoff the following week. Attorney General Ken Paxton and Patrick enlisted Trump's help on Covey's behalf amid a mutual belief that Phelan would fall in overtime in his home district re-election race.
Instead of admitting defeat when Phelan prevailed in the runoff with almost 50.8 percent of the vote, Patrick and other Covey apologists asserted that the speaker stole the election with crossover support from Democrats.
But Patrick set himself up for historic embarrassment in the fallout from the 2020 election when he hatched a bounty fund for information leading to convictions from voter fraud that Trump alleged. Patrick stocked the reward chest with $1 million in funds that were contributed to him for his re-election campaign.
The only bounty that Patrick paid - however - went to a Democratic activist poll worker who snitched on a Trump supporter for voting twice in the Philadelphia area. U.S. Senator John Fetterman, who was serving as the lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania, mocked Patrick relentlessly for the costly faux pas that he committed in an attempt to demonstrate his loyalty to Trump.
Patrick has said nothing up to now about the possibility of rebooting the reward fund if Trump loses again. But Patrick could have made the same proposal to Fetterman as a chance to redeem himself to some degree. The Texas Senate president wants to show up Carville instead.
"Mr. Carville: let’s see how strongly you really feel," Patrick teased. "If you’re right – I’ll give $100,000 to your favorite kids’ charity, and if I’m right – you give $100,000 to my favorite kids’ charity. Let’s see you put your money where your foul mouth is. Texans are asking if you are “all hat and no cattle.”
The first response to the Patrick post referred to the Trump voter bust in the Quaker State.
