Well, look at there. Mr Axelrod has now suggested that Biden should not run for president. Put up the tweet full mass. I will give you some background. [00:00:15] He says and I quote, only Joe Biden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. But he needs to decide is whether that is wise, whether it's in his best interest or the country. [00:00:36] Now, the reason why David Axelrod is saying this is because, well, many people are saying it, including the majority of Democratic voters, are saying that he's not really the guy they would like to see run again. But that was the sentiment before. [00:00:54] In a head to head matchup with Donald Trump, those individuals turned into supporters that happened during the last election cycle. But the polling data does not suggest it is happening in this one. [00:01:10] Now, polls are not predictions, they are snapshots. Here's Donald Trump's latest. >> Speaker 2: The latest morning console poll has us far ahead. We're 59%, and the others are at like, 12. [00:01:26] One is at 12. I think that's the sanctimonious. But he's rapidly being caught by Ramaswamy, who's good. No, Christie's, he's eating right now. He can't be bothered. >> [APPLAUSE] >> Sir, please do not call him a fat pig. [00:01:47] That's very disrespectful. Don't call him. See, I'm trying to be nice. Don't call him a fat pig. You can't do, you can't do that. So now, because you're not allowed to do that and therefore we're not gonna do it, okay? [00:02:02] We wanna be very civil, right? >> Speaker 1: What is this about? You see, Donald Trump is not adverse to America. Donald Trump is a permeation. [00:02:18] He is the product of America. He has insulted his way to super prominence in the United States political scene, why? Because once again, he is an expression of this nation. [00:02:38] There's more background. Put him up full mass. Remember when David Axelrod was the Democratic strategist credited with leading former President Barack Obama's 2008 victory. He has now suggested Biden needs to drop out. [00:02:58] David Axelrod pointed to Sunday polling from The New York Times and Siena College that shows the president lagging behind Trump in the five key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. [00:03:17] States which Biden won when he faced Trump in 2020. Cenk made a very similar point when he threw his hat in the ring. Axelrod wrote on Twitter, now known as X, that the data, quote, [00:03:35] will send tremors of doubt through the Democratic Party and will create legitimate concern about having the president seek re-election. Only Joe Biden can make this decision, he said of having the president run in 2024. [00:03:53] If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of what he needs to decide of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise, if it's in his best interest or the countries. [00:04:08] Axelrod noted there is a risk associated with changing course now, as there is little time left for a primary campaign, and campaigns are how we test candidates. [00:04:26] But there is a lot of leadership talent in the Democratic Party poised to emerge, he wrote. The POTUS is justly proud of his accomplishments, Axelrod said, before bashing Trump as a dangerous, unhinged demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, norms, [00:04:46] laws, and institutions of democracy should be disqualifying. Correct but they're not. But the stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore, he says. The poll of 3662 registered voters in the swing states show [00:05:06] Biden was ahead of Trump in only the swing state of Wisconsin, and he falls to Trump by margin of 4 to 10% among registered voters in the other 5 states. The voters overwhelmingly prefer Trump over Biden [00:05:25] on issues of immigration, national security, and the current war in Israel, the poll found. Two-thirds of the respondents said the country is moving in the wrong direction under Biden. [00:05:42] And just 37% say they trust or trusted Biden with the economy, compared to 59% who said they trusted Trump, making it one of the largest issue gaps, the poll found. [00:05:57] Biden is also losing support from much of his base, according to the survey. Young voters under the age of 30 are only favoring Biden by a single percentage point, and his pool with Hispanic voters is down to single digits. [00:06:17] Meanwhile, traditionally Democratic black voters are registering 22% support for Trump in the polling data. Many of the respondents cited Biden's age as a factor, with a staggering 71% saying they felt Biden is, quote, too old to be president, [00:06:34] including 54% of his own backers, while only 39% felt the same about Trump. They're basically the same age, including 19% of Trump's backers. Biden's campaign has been trying to undercut the concerns about his age [00:06:49] over the past few weeks by spotlighting Trump's various flubs and mishaps on the campaign trail, such as not knowing which Iowa City he was in last month. It's not going to work. It's not going to be effective, okay? [00:07:05] This really is not about the age of Biden. Let me explain why I say that. If Biden would have delivered on the campaign resume presented, then you will see an excitement. You will see a campaign excitement, and [00:07:21] you would see excitement in communities, states. It would almost be tangible. But because you did not deliver that resume, there's no excitement. None of these individuals are spring chickens. None of them. Biden is old. [00:07:37] Trump is old. Hell, even Bernie was no spring chicken. But he created excitement, why? Idea, philosophy, political, common sense, talking directly to the issue. [00:07:54] Biden could have governed in the progressive way he started to campaign. You have a different scenario today. Don't think Axelrod is saying what he's saying without having major conversations with people inside of the Democratic Party before making such a public announcement. [00:08:13] Of course he has. Question is, what happens next? All right, David, how do you see this, dear brother? >> Speaker 3: Well, I think that point about David Axelrod having conversations with fellow Democrats is crucial because there's a lot of reporting that President Obama himself had lunch with Joe Biden at the White House. Visited him at the White House in either June or July, and that President Obama [00:08:31] also made the argument to Joe Biden look, if you leave the Democratic Party, if you don't run for re-election, you will walk away a hero. For having defeated Donald Trump in 2020, for having take the nation out of COVID, for the number of jobs you've created, you've created twice as many jobs as Donald Trump. Leave the race as a hero. [00:08:46] Don't be the one who has lost democracy to Donald Trump. Joe Biden, apparently, that lobbying effort didn't work, and so Biden is hanging in there. So this is an effort, I think, by David Axelrod again, to try to raise the stakes. And in my view, I think the polling is clear. I think it is time to sort of smash the glass and pull the firearm for Democrats. [00:09:03] Because when you have two-thirds of the country who feel the country's headed in the wrong direction, only 27% believe the country is headed on the right track. That is a death knell for an incumbent president. Now, is it as a guarantee that Joe Biden would lose the election of Donald Trump? I'm not sure it's a guarantee, but [00:09:18] I think he is not the strongest Democrat that Democrats could put forward. If there is a race and even though there's 80 days until the voting begins in New Hampshire and Iowa, if there's a race between Gavin Newsom and Governor Whitmer of Michigan and Pete Butted Edge and Kamala Harris. At least the Democrats would have that opportunity to sift through the candidates [00:09:34] and figure out, well, who is their more energetic, strongest candidate to take on Donald Trump. But if the Democrats go with Joe Biden, and again, if Joe Biden wants this race, it will be his. But I don't think Joe Biden really wants to go down in the history book, says the president who lost democracy to Donald Trump. [00:09:50] And that's the argument Democrats are gonna have to make. >> Speaker 1: Very well said. We will update as it develops.