The strategist behind Obama's presidential campaigns gives his midterms
predictions, shares his lightning-round thoughts on 2020 candidates and
tells Tim whether he thinks any politician can recapture the Obama
magic.

David Axelrod doesn’t like the path the country—or the Democratic
Party—is on. 

The chief strategist who steered Barack Obama’s winning White House
campaigns worries that President Trump has laid a trap—and that his
party is walking right into it. “Escalation breeds escalation,” Axelrod
said in an interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast. “And within the
Democratic Party, I think there is a big debate about how to deal with
Trump because he has no boundaries. He’s willing to do anything and say
anything to promote his interests. It’s a values-free politics; it’s an
amoral politics. And so, there is this body of thought that you have to
fight fire with fire and so on. But I worry that we’ll all be consumed
in the conflagration.” 

Stressing that “civility actually is a really important element of
politics,” Axelrod criticized Hillary Clinton and former Attorney
General Eric Holder for recent comments they’ve made, and described the
backlash he has faced for urging Democrats to avoid confrontation. The
best way to defeat Trump, Axelrod argued, is by nominating someone who
can appeal to an exhausted electorate. 

“I don’t think people will be looking for a Democratic version of
Trump,” he said. “I don’t think they’ll be looking for people who can go
jibe for jibe and low blow for low blow. I think people are going to be
looking for someone who can pull this country out of this hothouse that
we’re in.” 

At his offices in Chicago, where he directs the University of Chicago’s
Institute of Politics, we discussed Axelrod’s predictions for the
midterm elections, the risk of overreach with a new House majority, and
the strengths and vulnerabilities of the top-tier 2020 Democratic
hopefuls. 

David Axelrod: Voters don't want a ‘Democratic version of Trump’

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