Axelrod: If I Were Hillary, ‘I Would Move On’ from 2016 Election, ‘It Takes a Lot of Work to Lose to Donald Trump’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod stated that while former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said she was responsible for her electoral defeat, “everything else suggested that she doesn’t really feel that way, and I don’t think that helps her in the long run. So, if I were her, I would move on.”

Axelrod began by saying Clinton “has a legitimate beef, because Comey’s better was instrumental, I think, in her defeat. So, in a narrow sense, she’s right about it.”

He continued, “But Jim Comey didn’t tell her not to campaign in Wisconsin after the convention. Jim Comey didn’t say don’t put any resources into Michigan until the final week of the campaign. And one of the things that hindered her in the campaign was a sense that she never fully was willing to take responsibility for her mistakes, particularly that server. And, so, if I were her, if I were advising her, I would say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t go back and appear as if you’re shifting responsibility off of your[self].’ She said the words ‘I’m responsible,’ but the — everything else suggested that she doesn’t really feel that way, and I don’t think that helps her in the long run. So, if I were her, I would move on.”

Axelrod added, “It takes a lot of work to lose to Donald Trump, let me tell you. He was the least popular presidential candidate to win in the history of polling. And so, it wasn’t just the Comey letter. The fact that she was in a position to lose because of the Comey letter is something that deserves some introspection, and maybe it will come in her book. but if I were her, I would just — if she’s got a book coming out, let the book speak for itself, and don’t get involved in these sidebar conversations.”

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