Axelrod on agreeing with Greene: 'Astonishing'

Former White House senior adviser David Axelrod on Thursday found himself in agreement with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) over the Democratic victories seen across the country in Tuesday's elections.

"Well, I'm in the kind of astonishing position of saying I agree with every word that Marjorie Taylor Greene said," Axelrod told CNN's Kaitlan Collins and conservative commentator Scott Jennings. "I've never said those words here, we're making news right here on your show, Kaitlan."

Axelrod said Greene's argument was "absolutely the case" that Democrats won, as Greene told The Hill's sister network NewsNation, as "a referendum on not delivering on what November 2024 was about."

"The fact is, the president got elected in the main [election] because people were very unhappy with the economy, and it hasn't changed for the better," Axelrod continued.

The Democratic commentator added that he heard Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) "say we're moving in the right direction" but said a recent poll by The Economist stated that only a small set, 21 percent, of those polled "agree with him."

"Fifty-four percent said we're moving in the wrong direction," Axelrod added. "So there's a reason that people are feeling that. They know what happens at the cash register. They know when they try and pay their bills at the end of the month, and they haven't seen improvement and they don't believe the president's focus has been there."

Americans see President Trump focused "on ballrooms and they see him on journeys overseas and they see him talking about the Nobel Prize and they see him talking about redoing the bathroom in the Lincoln Bedroom in gold," Axelrod said.

"They're saying, 'What does this have to do with my life?'" he added. "The more that they insist on things getting better in that they have had great economic accomplishments, the more they sound a little like [former President] Joe Biden did when he was running for president and got into real trouble doing that. You can't jawbone people into feeling what they're not experiencing."

Greene has become more critical of her party over the past several weeks, particularly over House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) handling of the government shutdown. On Wednesday, she told host Blake Burman on NewsNation that she yelled at Johnson for keeping the House out of session, calling it an “utter failure."

“And that’s on the Speaker of the House," she said. "While the rest of America’s going to work every single day, you’re going to work, people in this building are going to work, Mike Johnson is telling us to stay home and not do our jobs.”

Greene also called out Johnson on Oct. 28, when he did not disclose any information about a Republican health care plan amid the shutdown, with Democrats maintaining that Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies will expire at the end of the year unless Congress agrees to extend them.

“Johnson said he’s got ideas and pages of policy ideas and committees of jurisdiction are working on it, but he refused to give one policy proposal to our GOP conference on our own conference call,” the Georgia Republican posted on social platform X. “Apparently I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan!!!”

During a Wednesday appearance on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast “Straight Shooter," Johnson said he's "not unaccustomed" to hearing Greene's criticism.

“She can come in and talk with me anytime, but she goes on these shows," Johnson added. "She likes to get the big interviews and that’s fine. Everybody has the right."