Axelrod says impression of GOP as extreme thwarting party: This is not the image ‘the Republican Party wants’

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said the impression of the Republican party as extreme is harming it politically.

“If I were the [President Biden’s] campaign, I would pay to have every American see the [Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)] convention, because the thing that has been thwarting Republicans in the midterms and since, has been this impression of the Republican Party as an extreme party,” Axelrod said told CNN’s John King Friday, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

CPAC began on Thursday, with supporters of former President Trump turning out in force and features of the event including a pinball machine themed to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Speakers at the event Saturday include the CEO of MyPillow, Mike Lindell, who is known for spreading false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, the former President, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake (R).

“Yesterday, you had someone stand up at the CPAC convention, as speaker, and basically talk about…’We almost toppled democracy on January 6,’” Axelrod continued. “‘We’re gonna do it now, with this, and he held up a cross, basically advocating for theocracy. This is not the image that the Republican party wants.”

Biden’s campaign recently said that a second Trump presidential term would be “straight out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’” in the wake of a Politico report detailing how the former president’s allies are working to incorporate “Christian nationalist ideas” into another term.

“This is straight out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Nationwide abortion bans, attacks on same-sex marriage, and restrictions on contraception — this is the horrifying reality being openly discussed by Team Trump and the likely architects of his second term agenda,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Tuesday.

Trump is planning to go after Biden in his Saturday speech at CPAC on issues including immigration, inflation and foreign policy.

“The first and most urgent action when we win will be to seal the border, stop the invasion, and send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home,” Trump will say, according to excerpts shared exclusively with The Hill.

“But to achieve that future, we first have to throw off the yoke of our out-of-control political class—and that begins with telling Crooked Joe Biden, ‘You’re fired,’” Trump is expected to say.