Former Obama aide David Axelrod takes a stand after President Biden reportedly called him a “thug,” saying he thinks the president can “fool nature.” If so, he argued, there is a “real problem.”
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd defended Mr. Axelrod in a column published Sunday, accusing Mr. Biden of having a “petty feud.”
“I don’t care that they think I’m the bad guy, that’s fine,” Axelrod told Dowd. “I hope they don’t think the polls are wrong, because they are.”
Axelrod, who noted that Dowd has defended Biden in the past, drew comparisons to Hillary Clinton and told Dowd that he thought Biden could “fool nature.” Ta.
“I think his shot here is 50-50, just not better, maybe a little worse,” Axelrod said. “He thinks he can fool nature here, and that’s really dangerous. If they’re expecting Trump to win, they’re in big trouble. Remember Hillary did the same thing. Masu.”
Politico columnist Jonathan Martin wrote in early November that Biden had privately called Axelrod a “bad guy.”
“The president’s flashes of anger suggest he may be in denial, surrounded by enablers surfacing grim political predictions,” Dowd wrote.
Mr. Dowd said the president should not have a “scar on his shoulder,” noting that Mr. Axelrod had received a large number of messages from others who agreed with his assessment of the latest polls.
“But he shouldn’t carry the Irish chip on his shoulder. He needs to bring together the brightest minds in the party and listen to them instead of starting petty squabbles.” Dowd wrote.
Axelrod urges Biden to consider whether it would be “wise” to withdraw from presidential race after polls show him trailing Donald Trump in several battleground states urged the president.
Axelrod responded to Martin’s report during an appearance on CNN.
“Listen, I understand that he was frustrated because I raised concerns that so many Democrats had. And also, you know, my feelings were, It’s either go or go. But right now, the way they approached the campaign was like, “What are you worried about?” “His attitude towards the campaign didn’t get him where he needed to go,” he said.
Axelrod said that while it was “uncomfortable for the president,” many others had said of Biden, “I’m glad someone said that.”
“I’m going to accept the fact that the president is unhappy with me,” he concluded.
