Axelrod: Trump Cabinet meeting was ’embarrassing’

Democratic strategist David Axelrod said a Cabinet meeting Tuesday in which officials offered gushing praise for President Trump as they spoke one by one around a table was “embarrassing” and reminded him of North Korea.

Axelrod said that, during his time in the White House, he sat in on many Cabinet meetings but never saw anything like what was televised on Monday.

“I think it was embarrassing,” Axelrod said on CNN. “I think the president would have burst out laughing if — a couple of people had gone down the row doing that because it was so clearly orchestrated,” he added, referring to former President Barack Obama.

“It felt very North Korean, you know, everybody giving praise to the leader.”

During the Cabinet meeting Monday, Trump had each Cabinet secretary take a turn praising him and his policy agenda. 

“On behalf of the entire senior staff around you, Mr. President, we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing that you’ve given us to serve your agenda and the American people,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said.

The meeting was widely mocked on social media, while Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) released a parody video where his staff gushed about his hair.

The praise came just days after ousted FBI Director James Comey labeled Trump a liar in a widely watched congressional hearing and was read as an effort to improve Trump’s mood.

Axelrod said Trump’s polling numbers are bad and the general narrative about his accomplishments is negative.

“And he’s trying to create an alternative reality,” he added.

“And they’re trying to keep his spirits up and so we get what is this new reality show.”

During the meeting, the president said he had accomplished more than any other president aside from Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his first six months in office.

“Never has there been a president, with few exceptions — case of FDR, he had a major depression to handle — who has passed more legislation and who has done more things than what we’ve done,” Trump said.