On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser David Axelrod stated that President Joe Biden has shifted positions on immigration because Democrats have moved on the issue because busing migrants to sanctuary cities “has been very effective” in getting Democrats to flip.
Host Dana Bash said, “[T]he change is that more and more Democrats are taking — voters — are taking a hard line. It looks as though the White House, the President is seeing that and kind of following their lead.”
Axelrod responded, “Yes. Two points on this: Whatever you think about what Gov. Abbott (R) has done, it was diabolically clever, because by shipping these migrants to cities that call themselves…sanctuary cities, he has created issue[s]. I come from Chicago. Chicago has been torn apart by this issue. New York has been torn apart by this issue. And suddenly, Democrats are engaged in this issue in a different way than they had been. So, that has been very effective. I think that the President has responded by engaging in these very difficult negotiations, agreeing to some of the most dramatic measures to deal with the border that we’ve seen in a very long time. And now, what we see is Donald Trump telling his people, don’t agree to that. I don’t want Biden’s name on the bottom of that bill. That will help him. And so, that gives the White House an offensive position, which is, we’re here to try and solve a problem. He wants to exploit it. He wants to weaponize the problem. We don’t have ten months to wait to deal with this problem. I think it’s an effective counterpoint.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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