Former Obama adviser David Axelrod doubled down after President Biden reportedly called him a “moron” and argued that the president has a “real problem” if he believes he can “trick nature.”
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd defended Axelrod in a column published Sunday, criticizing Biden for engaging in “petty disputes.”
“I don’t care if you think I’m a jerk, that’s fine,” Axelrod told Dowd. “I hope you don’t think the polls are wrong, because they’re not.”
Axelrod, who Dowd said has defended Biden in the past, told Dowd that Biden believes he can “trick nature,” comparing him to Hillary Clinton.
“I think it’s a 50-50 chance here, but no better than that, maybe a little worse,” Axelrod said. “He believes that he can fool nature here and it is really risky. They have a real problem counting on Trump to win it for them. I remember Hillary did that too.”
Political columnist Jonathan Martin wrote in early November that Biden called Axelrod a “moron” in private.
“The president’s flash of anger indicates that he may be in denial, surrounded by enablers who are sugarcoating a bleak political forecast,” Dowd wrote.
Axelrod says he doesn’t care what Biden thinks of him, as long as Biden takes the polls seriously.AFP via Getty Images
Dowd said the president shouldn’t have “a hard feelings” and noted that Axelrod received plenty of messages from other people who agreed with his assessment of the latest polls.
“But he shouldn’t indulge the Irish resentment he carries. He needs to bring together the brightest minds in his party and listen to what they have to say, not engage in petty disputes,” Dowd wrote.
Axelrod urged the president to consider whether it would be “wise” to drop out of the race following a poll that showed Biden trailing Donald Trump in several key battleground states.
Axelrod reacted to Martin’s report during an appearance on CNN.
“Listen, I understand that you were irritated because I raised concerns that many, many Democrats had. And again, you know, my feeling is to get out or move on. But the status quo, the way they approached the campaign, that kind of ‘What, what concern?’ The attitude toward the campaign was not going to get him where he needs to get,” he said.
While it was “uncomfortable for the president,” Axelrod revealed that many others have told him they were “glad someone said the same thing” about Biden.
“I will live with the fact that the president is not happy with me,” he concluded.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn