'The party took a step forward today’ : Axelrod reacts to Biden dropping out of race

I want to bring in CNN commentator, senior political co and former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, here. Obviously, Alex, we had been waiting to see if this was actually going to ha first. We haven't heard from you What's your reaction to President Biden exiting the 2 Caitlin you know, I got the news on a plane coming into New York and, you know, it was a very I was ve Honestly, I think it was necessa It's important. It's an incredibly important dec and difficult decision that he made for the country. But not not the final chapter that he imagined and not maybe the final chapter that he deserved. But there is a real focus on the question that he has put in front of peop and again and again. And that is who and how can the Democratic P defeat Donald Trump? And I think in that regard, the party took a step forward to And the president recognized it and did the hardest thing you can do and stepped aside. I mean, it's you know, Van Jones is talking e about what a tough decision this must have been for Presiden And when you look at it in the grand scheme of things, I mean, to go from three a little over three weeks ago showing up in Atlanta to to debate Donald Trump and then to this decision now is a pretty quick time span in the grand scheme of thin But I wonder what you made, given you were a senior adviser to President Obama in his statem Obviously thanking Biden for for his service, commenting on his exit from the but not going as far as to endorse Harris or a to take the top of the ticket. Is that posturing on his part or do you think that's just him taking a moment before getting involved and lining up behind someone else as the next nominee? Look, I think that again, I think the focus of many leaders in the party is going to be singular and it's going to be how and who can defeat Donald Trump. And that may well be Kamala Harr You know, I think some of her supporters have done her a disservice because they say, well, she's there, you know, she's historic, you can't bypass her and so on. The real case they should be mak why she'd be the strongest candi And there are some really strong arguments to sugge she would be. But she might be stronger if she comes through a process that is open. And I notice in her own statemen she said she wanted to compete and earn the nomination and it would be good for her if that was the conclusion that people drew. She's certainly capable of doing She's the only one who's being d who's actually been swimming in the deep end of the pool. Running for national office. President or vice president is unbelievably hard. And no one who hasn't done it has any idea, no matter what you've run for be You know, she she may be battle scarred, but she's also she's battle tested in a way others aren't. And they should be making that c But I think that people are going to take a hard look at this, try and open up the process and if others step forward. Others may not. But she would be in a stronger posit if she can say, I went through a and I emerged as the nominee of the Democratic by dint of that process, and not just as a a gesture by the president to hand me this nomination. David, I think for people watchi understandably what's happened just in the last week alone has been seismic in U.S. politics. But I think if you look over the six months, Donald Trump, the ca the Republican Republican nominee, he was then presumptive, was convicted of 34 felonies. There was an attempted assassination of him eight days And then today we see a sitting president take himself out of the running. I just from a historical perspective, it's a lot to process. It really is. I mean, you know, look, I've lived through a lot of these election cycles, and I really ha seen anything quite like this since the sixties. You know, when we were we had all those we had several assassinations. Robert Kennedy appeared as if he was had seized the nomi the night he won the California primary and was killed that night or shot that night and died two days later and threw the party into turmoil We had a very tumultuous convent in Chicago. Hubert Humphrey emerged as the n He was the vice president for Lyndon Johnson and carried some of the burden o and the Vietnam War with him and almost won anyway. Lost by a point close very fast. But that whole year was it was one unthinkable thing after another. It feels a little bit like that And but the thing that we probably need to focus on is the fact that there is an ele coming in November. And I think that election has changed in a dramatic way to Donald Trump, he was certainly was the colossu in Milwaukee last week, but in the rest of the country, not so much. He's a vulnerable candidate and beaten and Democrats are going t to focus on that. There's a lot of sadness about the president, a lot of love and affection for But I think people are also still to the task at hand. Yeah, I spoke to Trump moments after B put out this statement and he called him the worst president in U.S. hist And then he said that he does be Harris would be easier to beat. Obviously, we don't know if that who he'll be facing in this elec But this is not just uncertainty for Democrats. It's uncertainty for the Trump campaign as well. David Axelrod. Stand by, because I want to get back to yo But we also have Phillip here joining CNN anchor senior political correspondent. And, Abby, I mean, this is just such a seismic moment in this ca I wonder what you're hearing fro from Democratic sources, from donors about what this new landscape looks like no Yeah, Caitlin, I've been talking to a number of people today and definitely over the last several days. And the big thing right now is how quickly can Vice President Harris consolidate thi And I spoke with a top fundraise for the Biden-Harris campaign, who's in touch with dozens of donors who said, you know, right now this is hers or to lose. And frankly, she has 24 to 48 hours to do so. But this person did not believe that there was any sort of truly organized effort to push someone else other than the vice president, which is something that is key in these moments. There is certainly a faction of who want an open process. They want to see if there is perhaps someone else who might be stronger against Tr But but that is not at this mome organized in any sort of way. And so that leaves the vice president from in a really strengthened po And this person also said that the donors are prepared to And that's going to be critically important. This is being viewed by many people in the Democratic as the path of least resistance. She has the clearest path to inheriting the campaign infrastructure, the clearest path to inheriting the money that has been raised by the Biden Harris campaign up until this point. And the other thing, you know, talking to another sou who's very close to the vice pre there is a lot of concern about the really compressed timeline right now to get all of these ducks in a r There are so many decisions that need to be made. So many parts of this that are completely unknown. And even the people who are the most supportive of h who want this to to to eventuall with the vice president as the top of the ticket, they are worried is how this person put it to me. So so look, the next day or two are going to be extremely critic One of the other factors in all of this is going to be which candidate is best positioned to actually get the delegates, because that's really where this ends up at this point And many people close to the vic president have stressed to me there are a lot of structural and political reasons why she is by far in the best po When we talk about the importanc black voters and black delegates are to this Democratic Party, that's not just a talking point. It's a real practicality about where the powerhouses are within the Democratic National C And those are the people in the coming days who are going to decide how this and who this goes to. And I imagine shortly after that the discussion about who would be her running mate is going to accelerate as w I'm already hearing, as I'm sure you are as well, a lot of whispers about about that as well, Caitlin.