Former President Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings clashed Wednesday night over how President Joe Biden arrived at his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Axelrod and Jennings appeared on “Anderson Cooper 360” to discuss the reaction to Biden's first speech since his decision to forgo reelection in 2024. During the debate, the two panelists discussed how Biden came to that decision, with Jennings suggesting Biden came under pressure from his own party and political commentators after performing poorly in the debate.
But Axelrod hit back at Jennings' comments, saying Biden “was not defeated by party leaders” and urged senior political commentators to show “leniency” to the president. (RELATED: Biden makes national appearance four days after announcing withdrawal on Twitter)
“I think what we're asking Republicans to do is to overlook a lot of fraud that's come from the White House. Fraud that's come from the vice president. People that worked for him. His family. Other Democrats. Democrats in Congress. We're asking the country to overlook a lot of fraud about Joe Biden's ability, his potential, his ability to serve another four years as president,” Jennings said.
“Are you talking about Biden or Trump?” Anderson interjected. “Literally every Democrat is making the same argument.”
“I'm talking about Joe Biden, and he came to this decision under a little bit of pressure, you have to admit, and not just out of his own good intentions,” Jennings said.
Axelrod then interrupted Jennings to say Biden's decision reflected the sentiment of the American electorate, before switching gears to attack Jennings' party's alliance with former President Donald Trump.
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“He concluded that this reflected the consensus of the American people, judged by party leaders. But Scott, I mean, a lot of the Republicans I've spoken to, are missing a lot more than this. And they would say the same about Donald Trump,” Axelrod said.
“You're talking about impeaching the president, which is exactly what he was trying to do, was trying to overturn a free and fair election, and many Republicans know that's what they said, but they ignore it,” Axelrod continued. “So I don't think you're on solid ground in making this argument.”
Jennings fired back at Axelrod, emphasizing that Biden “won the primary without any serious opposition” and how “bizarre” his withdrawal from Biden is.
“My point is simply that, as we're trying to make a judgement call here between the two parties, I fully acknowledge that both sides have flaws, but we're acting as if there are no flaws in this situation, which is bizarre,” Jennings said.
“He won the primary without any serious opposition. He told us he would do everything he could. His party said he could help, but he obviously faded,” Jennings continued. “And, you know, like I said on debate night, this candidate faded, I think he ended up in the right place. He ended up here, but the journey to get there was pretty painful, and I think a lot of people lost a lot of credibility along the way to get here.”
Biden addressed the nation on Tuesday night after publishing a letter on X (formerly Twitter) announcing his withdrawal from the race, saying he believes it is best for the country and his party to focus on the remainder of his term.
Biden's decision came as more than 30 Democratic lawmakers publicly opposed him and called on him to resign. Despite the calls, Biden and his staff have remained firm on the campaign trail, and the president has suggested the lawmakers could “confront him” at the Democratic National Convention in August.
On July 12, Biden announced his decision to freeze about $90 million in funding to the largest pro-Biden super PAC, which drew strong backlash from lawmakers, political commentators and major Democratic donors.
Since the move, Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Tuesday won the number of delegates needed to be considered the party's presidential nominee.
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