Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said in a recent interview that he no longer cares about whether President Biden likes him or his advice because he is worried that Biden may not win the election.
"I’m at a stage in my life where I don’t really give a s--t," Axelrod said in an interview with Politico. "I’m 68. You know, everybody in Washington sort of thinks that the most important thing is that the president likes you and that you get invited to parties and s--t like that. I’ve been to plenty of parties. I worked in the White House. That’s not the thing."
Axelrod has publicly spoken out on reports that Biden called him a "pr--k" and argued that the president has a "real problem" if he thinks he can "cheat nature."
"I don’t care about them thinking I’m a pr--k — that’s fine," Axelrod previously told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in a conversation about Biden's re-election chances. "I hope they don’t think the polls are wrong, because they’re not."
In December, Axelrod also commented on a Wall Street Journal poll that places Biden's approval figures at a record low, saying it is a "very, very dark" sign for his re-election campaign.
"I know that people expect 100 percent loyalty, but that’s not my job," Axelrod told Politico.
Republican strategist Mike Murphy "recently joked" in a podcast with Axelrod that "if Biden were to get close to Axelrod, the president may end up convicted of manslaughter," according to Politico. "'I’m too quick for him!' Axelrod said back.
Axelrod suggested that Biden's age was a serious problem that should be acknowledged. Biden is 81 and is already the oldest president in American history, and he would be 86 by the end of a second term.
"These are things that are hard — his gait and all of that stuff," Axelrod said. "These are the things where people have said, ‘Why are you talking about that?’ It’s like you think this is a secret? If it were a secret, they wouldn’t have the problems that they have. There’s so much artifice to politics in some ways. And I think that there’s only so much you can do about that."
Axelrod claimed that he did not care about reportedly being called a "pr--k" by Biden.
"I don’t care about that," the ex-Obama adviser said. "I don’t blame him. He’s frustrated and probably thought it was unhelpful. Someone who you know — but I won’t say who — sent me a box of buttons that said "Pr--ks for Biden." So I guess I’m the chair of that."
Biden's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Fox News' Hanna Panreck and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
