Top political strategist David Axelrod said the Biden administration is “stuck in the mud” and that former President Donald Trump is well-positioned to take advantage of public anger.
The former campaign manager for Barack Obama said that the current political scene was a “fertile environment” for Trump to appeal to voters due to a growing dissatisfaction with the federal government’s approach to policy.
The comments came with just two weeks left in the presidential election, with Trump making gains in the swing states and removing Vice President Kamala Harris’ lead in the Midwest.
Speaking on his weekly podcast, The Axe Files, to CNN host John King, Axelrod said: “You have a government that seems stuck in the mud, and even if it isn’t, it feels that way to people…the government isn’t up to the task of responding to their challenges.
“And for a demagogue, that is a very fertile environment because there’s a certain simplicity to a guy who comes along and says, ‘I’ll take care of it. I’ll stop that war in a day. We’ll have a health care plan that’s better than the one you have, and stand by; I’m still—we’re working on it, but we’ll get it done.'”
“People are looking for simple answers or at least some sense of solidity,” Axelrod said.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
David Axelrod speaks at the University of Chicago on October 18, 2019. Axelrod said on his podcast that
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Axelrod has long been a cautionary voice among Democratic Party insiders. He previously warned that voters were “prepared to be disappointed” by Harris and has stressed the electoral dangers of being associated with Biden’s unpopularity.
Associating Harris with Biden’s policies has been a key tactic of the Trump campaign since she replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee in July. Much of Trump’s and running mate JD Vance‘s rhetoric has focused on Harris as an incumbent.
In August, Axelrod predicted that Trump could have the edge in the election, telling CNN: “I’m not sure who would win, and I think it may well be President Trump because it’s an Electoral College fight. For a Democrat to win to those battleground states, they need to have a significant lead in the Electoral College.”
The Electoral College is predicted to be extremely close. The latest polling aggregates suggest that Trump would narrowly win with 281 votes after he took a small lead in Pennsylvania, which is considered by many to be the pivotal state in this election.
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