Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) criticized political strategist David Axelrod for slamming individuals who defend agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), that President Trump has been working to restructure.
“That’s the kind of pundit-brain, poll-tested bulls— that got us into this mess,” Schatz told The New Yorker in an interview. “We are constantly being told that something isn’t polling well enough yet.”
“And one of the things that Republicans do well is not allow their pollsters to tell them everything,” he added. “They invent whole stories and then the polling follows.”
Axelrod shared a different perspective in comments to Politico Magazine earlier this week, suggesting Democrats need to stop defending agencies that voters want to slash.
“Part of the problem for the Democratic Party is that it has become a stalwart defender of institutions at a time when people are enraged at institutions,” he said, per the magazine.
“And they become — in the minds of a lot of voters — an elite party, and to a lot of folks who are trying to scuffle out there and get along, this will seem like an elite passion,” Axelrod added.
The back-and-forth comes as Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, helmed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has been under mounting scrutiny over for its moves to gut federal programs. The president announced earlier this month that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take over as acting leader of USAID, signaling the administration’s effort to dismantle the agency.
Schatz responded by arguing that both Axelrod and James Carville, who served as a chief adviser for former President Clinton, are far too removed from the legislative body to share their opinions on internal matters.
“I mean, those guys have not been in the trenches legislatively or electorally in a full generation. And there’s a cottage industry out there of Democratic strategists,” the Hawaii Democrat said.
“But in order to be a Democratic strategist, you actually have to do politics currently and not just podcast about it,” he added.
