One of then-President Barack Obama’s top political advisers pointed out over the weekend during a CNN interview that the “stakes are high” for Donald Trump in the upcoming election, should he lose to Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a segment with CNN host Michael Smerconish, David Axelrod said Trump will have to face several legal cases that are still not completely resolved if he’s not victorious.
“David, I have had callers to my radio program question whether he‘s trying to lose it, whether he‘s trying to tank it and my response is to say his liberty interest is on the line. This is a guy who for his own freedom and for financial reasons, he needs to win this race,” Smerconish said to begin the segment.
“Well I think that‘s part of the problem, Michael, I think he is, you know, the stakes for him are much larger than for any normal candidate because the consequences of a defeat is that he‘s going to have to face the bar of justice here and he thought he had beaten it. He thought that he had won,” Axelrod began.
“When we were in Milwaukee, the talk there was of landslide, and…it was it felt like they were talking about the terms of surrender that they were going to demand, and he was very he felt very serene that he had beaten this,” Axelrod continued.
“Now, all of a sudden, his life is flashing before his eyes, and I think it‘s one of the things that‘s unsettling him. But, you know, they sent them out yesterday to do a press conference two days ago about the economy, and his big challenge is to make her the incumbent and not the turn-the-page candidate, and he wants to Link her to Biden in a way that will make her the incumbent, and that was what the press conference was all about and instead, he blew himself up and spent 10 minutes on his legal problems and lashing out at in other places,” the former Obama adviser continued.
“And he overwhelmed the message of his own press conference. He is not a competent candidate right now, and one of the questions about this debate is, is that the guy who‘s going to step on the debate stage, because if it is, they’ve got a world of hurt,” he added.
WATCH :
During his first debate with President Joe Biden, Trump surprised many with his even-keeled approach, his adroit handling of the questions he was asked, and his self-control. That said, he’s brought in some special ‘talent’ to help him prepare for his debate against Harris, which is scheduled for Sept. 10 on ABC in Philadelphia.
The former president has enlisted the assistance of former Democrat Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for his debate preparations, The New York Times reported.
Many know Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who became an Independent shortly after her 2020 presidential run, from her frequent Fox News appearances. But some may not remember how she decimated the vice president during the 2020 Democrat Primary Debate.
WATCH:
5 years ago today, Tulsi Gabbard ended Kamala Harris 2020 presidential campaign after calling her out in a debate.
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) July 31, 2024
One would think that Tulsi being a young, veteran, woman, POC, and having 8 years of experience in Congress that she would’ve been the future face of the Democratic… pic.twitter.com/yvZeGjMXZm
“Senator Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president, but I’m deeply concerned about this record,” she said during the debate, which many believe was the death knell for the 2020 Harris campaign. “There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
“She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so,” Gabbard said to a visibly uncomfortable Harris. “She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California, and she fought to keep a cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.”
