Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod offered his theory on how President Donald Trump was using the so-called “The Squad,” consisting of Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), to further his political objectives.

“The thing is, he is repeating the pattern of his political, brief political career which is he throws these incendiary things out to divide in a way that he thinks will be useful to him politically,” he said. “He wants to elevate these four young members of Congress to make them the emblem of the Democratic party, and he wants to be so outrageous about it that he forces all Democrats to embrace them, to support the argument that they are the iconic figures in the party and in the bargain, he riles up his base with nativist language.”

(h/t RCP Video)

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