Axelrod Shames Trump Over ‘North Korea’-Style Cabinet Praise-Singing

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By Daniel J. Solomon June 13, 2017

David Axelrod laced into President Trump after the administration’s first televised cabinet meeting, blasting the event in which the president’s department secretaries praised in over-the-top terms as reminiscent of a totalitarian regime.

“I think it was embarrassing,” Axelrod, the “brain” of former President Barack Obama, said on CNN. “I think the president would have burst out laughing if — a couple of people had gone down the row doing that because it was so clearly orchestrated.”

“It felt very North Korean, you know, everybody giving praise to the leader,” he continued. Axelrod now serves as the head of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.

“On behalf of the entire senior staff around you, Mr. President, we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing that you’ve given us to serve your agenda and the American people,” Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, said.

The meeting was widely derided for the seemingly rehearsed plaudits offered up to Trump – even as his administration is under attack on the Russia investigation and facing difficulties pushing its policy agenda.

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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