Axelrod: Road ahead ‘likely will get harder’ for Cohn

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod predicted the road ahead for President Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn will likely get harder in light of his recent criticism of the president’s remarks on the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month.

“For Cohn and the remaining establishment pillars within the administration, the road ahead likely will get harder,” Axelrod wrote in a CNN op-ed published Friday.

“This President is not going to change and they will be forced to confront over time whether by staying, they are managing his worst instincts — or simply enabling them,” he continued.

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Axelrod’s comments came a day after The New York Times reported that Cohn, who is Jewish, had drafted his letter of resignation after Trump said “many sides” were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville earlier this month at a white supremacist rally.

Cohn said in a Financial Times interview published earlier this week that “this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups.” 

Cohn stood behind the president during his press conference last week at Trump Tower as the president doubled down on his remarks regarding the violence. 

Axelrod argued that Cohn’s decision to stay in the administration could amount to the fact that he sees himself as a moderating force within Trump’s White House.

“When rumors swirled about Cohn’s imminent departure, the markets, which have been on an ebullient trajectory, took a dive. He is in a widely reported battle with economic nationalists who resonate with Trump over protectionist policies. He is the point man on the President’s looming campaign for tax reform. A Democrat, he sees himself as a moderating influence in the White House,” Axelrod said.

“So it’s easy to see how Cohn might have been persuaded — or persuaded himself — to stay, in the same way the President’s national security team of Mattis, Tillerson and McMaster and chief of staff Kelly seem determined to tolerate Trump’s tantrums in order to prevent more cataclysmic eruptions,” he continued.