Axelrod Defends Obama’s Nazi Remarks: — Trump ‘Delivers Hammer Blows’ to Fundamental Institutions of Democracy

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” while defending President Barack Obama’s comments, former White House chief strategist David Axelrod said President Donald Trump “delivers hammer blows again” to “fundamental institutions of our democracy.”

Partial transcript as follows:

TAPPER: David, let me start with you. In the past few weeks President Obama, I think it is fair to say, has been increasingly vocal in his criticisms of President Trump, not just about policy, but also about the tone and tenure. Recently he invoked Nazi Germany in reference to the current political climate. Does President Obama see a danger in the Trump presidency?

AXELROD: Well, look, I think that the big concern — well, elections happen, and policies change, and that is democracy. But democracy also depends on sustaining our institutions. One of the things that President Obama most appreciated and certainly I did was how President Bush handled the transition from one presidency to the next. And the period after, we weren’t particularly kind to President Bush in that he kept — he kept his counsel as to what his views were after he left office. And what you see now is a president who delivers hammer blows again and again to fundamental institutions of our democracy and adds to cynicism about our democratic institutions. And I think that’s what President Obama was speaking to. And president bush has spoken to it as well. Policies change, views are different, that’s part of the system. But our institutions have to be sustained. and that is something that this president doesn’t always appreciate.

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