‘Being petty all he has left’: Axelrod gets snippy over Trump moving inauguration indoors

The surprise news that Monday’s inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump would be moved indoors with weather conditions in the nation’s capital expected to be bitterly cold brought forth a torrent of bitter sniping from Democrats, including CNN’s David Axelrod.

On Friday, the incoming president announced that the inauguration would take place in the Capitol Rotunda due to the “Arctic blast” that could bring biting wind chill and frigid temperatures to Washington, D.C., as it similarly was in 1985 when then-President Ronald Reagan was forced inside.

In a post to X, the political strategist and Barack Obama ally showed his pettiness by posting a picture of John F. Kennedy’s 1961 ceremony and suggested that the real motivation for the shift was that Trump feared the turnout wouldn’t be as large as anticipated, a petty jab from a man who saw his ex-boss’s toxic legacy soundly rejected by voters in November.

“In ’61, John F. Kennedy was Inaugurated on the Capitol steps, in windchills of 7 degrees. It was almost as cold for Obama in ’09. In fairness, Trump IS more than 3 decades older than JFK & Obama were. Or did he just fear small crowds?” Axelrod wrote.

Social media users on X clapped back at his petty whining, with one noting that “Axelrod and Obama’s entire political legacy was just completely upended, so I guess being petty is all he has left.”

Others pointed out that “Axe” may have inadvertently made another great argument for moving the ceremony under the roof with concerns expressed by some that an outdoor setting would be a security challenge considering that Trump has already been the target of two assassination attempts, and there’s a chance that someone could be motivated to take another in a last-minute attempt to prevent him from taking office.

“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!),” Trump said in a Friday post to Truth Social.

Chris Donaldson

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles