Axelrod blasts Trump’s Romney tweet: He thinks laws and norms ‘are for losers’

CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist David Axelrod on Saturday hit back at President Trump for his tweets attacking Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Trump mocked Romney for his 2012 electoral loss and called the GOP senator a “pompous ‘ass'” after he spoke out Friday against Trump’s calls for foreign powers to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival and leading Democratic presidential candidate.

“This is such a telling Tweet,” Axelrod tweeted. “Romney ‘never knew how to win.’ Meaning, he didn’t enlist other countries to subvert our election on his behalf. @realDonaldTrump absolutely believes that anyone who fails to do ANYTHING to get what they want is a sucker.”

“Words that will never drop from Trump’s lips: ‘We could so that but it would be wrong,’” continued Axelrod, who served as chief strategist for former President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. “Norms, rules, laws or institutions are for losers.”{mosads}

Minutes later, Axelrod tweeted that “it is alarming to watch a @POTUS who recognizes absolutely no legal, moral or ethical boundaries. But it would be foolish to ignore the fact that his willingness to do or say anything gives him a certain asymmetric advantage in battles with people who play by the rules.”

Words that will never drop from Trump’s lips: “We could so that but it would be wrong.”
Norms, rules, laws or institutions are for losers.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 5, 2019

It is alarming to watch a @POTUS who recognizes absolutely no legal, moral or ethical boundaries.
But it would be foolish to ignore the fact that his willingness to do or say anything gives him a certain asymmetric advantage in battles with people who play by the rules.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 5, 2019

Axelrod’s comments came shortly after Trump lashed out at Romney in a pair of tweets, slamming the GOP senator for saying the president’s calls this week for China and Ukraine to investigate Biden were “wrong and appalling.”

“Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one,” Trump asserted in a tweet. He then mocked the 2012 GOP presidential nominee for losing the election to Obama, tweeting that “if Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked!”

“Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He is a pompous ‘ass’ who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didn’t give it to him). He is so bad for R’s!” Trump added in a later tweet.

Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019