CNN political analyst David Axelrod said Tuesday on the network’s election night coverage that “there’s a patina of extremism that has infected the Republican Party.”

Political analyst Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “Abortion is the issue. But I want to note something, the man who is the most responsible for the Dobbs decision, Donald Trump, actually has has been ahead of other Republicans in creating distance on the issue of abortion.”

Axelrod said, “The Republican Party unanimously in the House elected a speaker a couple of weeks ago, Mike Johnson, who was one of the most ardent anti-abortion rights members of the United States Congress, for Jim Jordan to say, oh, this isn’t going to affect us next year, he’s delusional. and every one of those swing districts, those members are going to be held accountable.

Farah Griffin said, “You have to talk about what an overarching vision is. And this is where the GOP continues to lose it is. It’s paid parental leave, it’s greater access to foster care, it is contraceptives. You have to have a comprehensive plan and say, ‘We are going to be the most pro-woman party if we’re going to say there’s going to be restrictions on one side of abortion.'”

Axelrod said, “I think there’s a patina of extremism that has infected the Republican Party that isn’t a both parties thing.”

He added, “I think it really is a problem for the Republican Party. You can dominate primaries that way but it is very hard to win general elections like that.”

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