John Burton Talks About Retirement, Trump And California's Future
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- California Democratic Party Chair John Burton weighs in on Donald Trump and how his party dropped the ball in the election.
He's retiring as chairman of the California Democratic Party and now, in his usual no-filter blunt language, he talks about everything from Donald Trump, to how national Democrats "F**ed it up" and about the future of California.
"..If you haven't figured out that there's some problems, something's wrong in the country, you have your head up your a**..." Burton told KPIX 5.
A man with long experience in Sacramento and Washington offers a blunt assessment about what Democrats did wrong last year.
At 84 years old, and on the brink of retirement, Burton sat down with KPIX 5 political analyst campaign Melissa Caen to discuss the state of politics today and the recent election of Trump.
Caen: "What do you think went wrong there?'
Burton: "How much time we got? No, terrible campaign. You can't go 'round telling people if you vote -- I vote for you, I must be a racist Nazi stupid blockhead SOB because that's the only reason in the world I could have for voting for you."
And he doesn't understand how Clinton spent about $1 billion.
Caen: "In this election in particular, I think, there was so much money spent…"
Burton: "Bull***. I mean, they just -- a lot of money spent. Where did it go? Where did Hillary's money go? What-- she spent how much money on doing what? I don't know."
Caen: "Maybe to pay for consultants?"
Burton: "Shoot all the consultants. You can start with that. Make a better world, better world."
And he says, Trump just got people excited.
Burton: "The Trump thing. You could feel the enthusiasm. You saw stuff happening And Hillary's people were like having a god damn parade or something."
Burton: "Put people to god da**ed work. Give them a god da** full lunch pail. I mean, what do people want? They want economic security for themselves and for their family. They want to know that the old deal, this is the first generation where the kids aren't better off than they were-- they just want to know-- they want to know there's hope."
Caen: "Where do the national democrats go from here?"
Burton: "It would just appear to me that the Democrats should figure out what the hell they're going to stand for and stand for it, I guess."
Caen: "If you were still in Congress, what would your approach be now that there?
Burton: "Shoot myself. If I was in Congress and be in the minority, no way."
Burton is an encyclopedia of political history and says that this was objectively a unique election.
"Well, I think that it's historical. It's historical from the standpoint, I mean, it's a pretty whacked election," Burton said, "I mean, it'll never be the same, whatever the same is...it'll never be the same."
