CNN (Lean Left bias) commentator and former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said President Joe Biden should avoid ‘pride’ in campaign messaging about the economy ahead of the 2024 election. 

Quote from Biden: Axelrod was responding to a quote from Biden, saying, “The idea that we’re in a situation where things are so bad … when I started this administration, people were saying there’s going to be a collapse in the economy. We have the strongest economy in the world.”

Quote from Axelrod: While the former Obama aide said it was “absolutely true” that the economy was strong, he added that “that’s not the way people are experiencing the economy…They are experiencing it through the lens of the cost of living. He is a man who’s built his career on empathy, why not lead with the empathy?” Saying Biden was making a “terrible mistake,” Axelrod concluded, “If he doesn’t win this race, it may not be Donald Trump that beats him, it may be his own pride.”

For Context: Negative economic perceptions have been out of step with positive economic data in 2024. This has created a unique political challenge for Biden, who is rumored to have privately referred to Axelrod as a “prick.”

How the Media Covered It: Coverage on Thursday appeared to be limited to news outlets focused on partisan politics, on both sides of the spectrum. While Fox News (Right bias) displayed sensationalism in its headline with words like “pummels” and “defiant,” the content of articles was generally similar across the spectrum.