CNN commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod criticizes the people former President Joe Biden surrounded himself.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN: You haven’t gotten a copy of the book yet, and none of the excerpts about you have come out yet, but you’re in this book quite a bit as well, because you were one of the early Democratic voices out there saying, President Biden should really think about whether or not he runs for re-election, and of course, the anvil dropped from the Biden White House landed on you not long after. Do you think at that point, President Obama was, well, what do you think was going through his mind? You know Obama well. He said to Clooney something along the lines of, if you write this op-ed, it’s he’s just gonna dig in more. The relationship between Obama and Biden is so complicated. Give us your diagnosis on this all. DAVID AXELROD: Look, they were at once friends, and they were also politicians in their own right who were both presidents and with their own personality quirks. And so there was a sense of deep friendship, but also at least on the part of Biden, I think also some sense of rivalry to compete with the reputation and the achievements of Obama. But I will tell you that I think when Obama gave him advice, and I’m not gonna tell you what that advice was, but he gave the advice that a good and loving friend should give. And I think one of the tragedies of this story is that Joe Biden served this country honorably for more than half a century, did accomplish some very significant things as president, but mistakenly thought that he was equipped to run for another term when I said, as I said, back in 2022, he’d be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of that term. And that was just not sensible. And a lot of people around him did not serve him well because they reinforced his desire to run instead of protecting his legacy and him. And by the way, also the Democratic Party and the country.

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