David Axelrod questions if NC storm victims can vote for Trump

Former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod faced criticism for questioning the ability of storm-ravaged rural voters in western North Carolina to get to the polls next month compared to their liberal “upscale” urban counterparts.

Axelrod, who was born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, noted during an episode of his podcast “Hacks on Tap” last Wednesday that the liberal city of Asheville, North Carolina, is a “blue dot” in an otherwise deep-red part of the battleground state, which was the epicenter of destruction from Hurricane Helene.

Obama strategist David Axelrod:

Trump voters in North Carolina will have a hard time voting thanks to Helene.

Prove him wrong. pic.twitter.com/DYdTdODpIb

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“Those voters in Asheville are — they’re, you know, the kind of voters that will figure out a way to vote. You know, they’re upscale, kind of liberal voters, and they’re probably going to figure out a way to vote,” Axelrod said.

Axelrod went on to suggest that the largely rural voters in the areas outside of Asheville — which tilts overwhelmingly toward former President Donald Trump — might not be as easily “wrangled” to get the polls for him.

“I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who’ve had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere in western North Carolina, in the mountains there, are going to be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign,” he continued.

“I don’t know how that’s all going to play out, but it’s an unpredictable element in North Carolina that has made it a little more interesting,” he added.

Axelrod faced a storm of backlash on X from users who were offended by what many saw as his callous and elitist response to widespread suffering.

“On his podcast [Axelrod] says Democrat voters in Asheville, North Carolina are smarter, wealthier and will still show up to vote for Kamala while he thinks Trump voters won’t. This is why Kamala and Biden aren’t helping, they benefit from the disaster,” tweeted radio host Clay Travis, apparently referencing reports amplified by the Trump campaign that the federal response to the disaster has been inadequate.

“I fear that Axelrod’s point is why Harris and Biden are letting these people drown,” tweeted Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway.

“Abjectly disgusting,” tweeted Fox News columnist David Marcus. “Democrats have lost their minds. Nothing is unacceptable if it’s against Trump. No rules, no decorum. It’s frightening.”

Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce accused Axelrod of showing that he “figures city Democrats are smarter and more resourceful and will figure out how to vote whereas the dumb Trump deplorables up in the mountains of NC who just lost everything, won’t.”

“Was he on the verge of a Kamala cackle?” she added.

Axelrod’s comments came about a month after he stressed the importance of using political power to help people while avoiding cynicism.

“Democracy is a battle between hope and cynicism. I see hope in this room with these young people,” Axelrod said during an Aug. 27 appearance at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

“It’s not about if the red team wins or the blue team wins or who’s up or who’s down, it’s about what you can do with that power in your hands to help people, and I hope we can focus on what we can do for our country, not how we can destroy each other,” he added.

Early voting in North Carolina begins Oct. 17, and the state’s Board of Elections has outlined efforts to ensure voting access to those displaced by the historic hurricane that wiped entire communities off the map.