前民主党策略师大卫·阿克塞尔罗德和克里斯·米格尔周一在CNN节目《卡西·亨特的竞技场》中警告阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德，在他与共和党人迈克·罗杰斯的竞选中不要过于自满。
Former Democratic Party strategists David Axelrod and Chris Meagher warned Abdul El-Sayed on Monday’s episode of CNN’s The Arena with Kasie Hunt not to get too cocky in his race against Republican Mike Rogers.
在关于埃尔-赛义德声称共和党因身份问题对他发动种族色彩浓厚攻击的讨论中，亨特问道：“大卫·阿克塞尔罗德，你如何评估他处理此事的方式以及这里的动态，特别是考虑到你曾为奥巴马工作？”
In a discussion about El-Sayed claiming Republicans are launching racially charged attacks on him because of identity, Hunt asked, “David Axelrod, how do you assess the way he is handling this and the dynamics here, especially considering you worked for Obama?”
阿克塞尔罗德回答：“我认为他说得没错，这块竞选地盘对迈克·罗杰斯并不友好，而他们已锁定这作为将要骑虎难下的议题。他们试图利用伊斯兰恐惧症。我的问题是，如果这是他们想谈的，这是你想谈的吗？”他补充道：“如果我是他的顾问，我会说不要让这件事拖上几天。回答问题，然后转向民众真正关心的事，因为我向你保证，密歇根州的大多数人最关心的是特朗普挑起的加拿大贸易战的影响、伊朗战争的影响，以及他们正在承受的所有经济冲击，还有迈克·罗杰斯直到最近才愿意批准这些做法。你要在自己的主场上比赛。他手里握着一副赢牌。所以我不会让这事拖上好几天。”“你基本上是说他在让他们主导议程？”亨特追问。
“I think he is right that this is not friendly terrain for Mike Rogers in that race, and they have landed on this as the issue they’re going to ride. They are trying to tap into Islamophobia. I guess my question is, if that’s what they want to be talking about, is that what you want to talk about?”Axelrod replied, adding: If I were advising him, I would say don’t prolong this for days. Answer the question, and then make the pivot to what people really care about, because I guarantee you that most people in Michigan are most concerned about the impact of the Canadian trade war that Trump has created, the effect of the Iran war, and all of the economic impacts that they are living with, and Mike Rogers’ willingness, until just recently, to ratify those. You want to fight the game on your turf. He’s got a winning hand to play here. So I would not make it several days later.
“我觉得他是在以他认为有利于自己的方式迎战，因为他在驳斥他们的论点。但我认为他在做的却是确认这就是竞选的焦点，这就是我们要战斗的战场，”阿克塞尔罗德回答，并补充道：“而且我认为他有……我非常喜欢他，也非常了解他。他是我在芝加哥大学研究所的同事。但本质上摆出‘我要教教你，我比你聪明’的姿态，并不是一种讨人喜欢的品质。”
“You’re basically saying he’s letting them dictate the terms?”Hunt clarified. “I think he is leaning in in ways that he thinks help him, because he’s impeaching their argument. But I think what he’s doing is affirming that this is what the race is about, this is where we’re going to fight,” Axelrod replied, adding:
“克里斯，你可以开始了。”亨特转向米格尔说道，米格尔曾是拜登的顾问。
And I also think he has a… I like him very much. I know him very well. He was a fellow at my institute at the University of Chicago.
“他给人的感觉就是：他觉得自己无论如何都必须是正确的。他总是喋喋不休地发表自己的观点；有些人可能会把这称为‘自信’，也有人可能会称之为‘傲慢’，但总之，他在任何问题上都坚持自己的看法。”米格尔接着说道，“不过我认为他应该把注意力放在选民真正关心的问题上——也就是住房的可负担性和生活成本。正如大卫所说，他越快回到这个主题上并继续推进我们的竞选计划，就越好。我觉得他处理这次与选民的交流的方式非常有效，但我们现在需要继续前进，回到这场竞选中真正重要的问题上来。”
But essentially taking the posture of “I am going to teach you, I am smarter than you” is not an appealing quality. “Chris, go ahead,” Hunt said, turning to Meagher, a former Biden advisor. “He gives this vibe that he just has to be right. He drives and drives, and he has this… some might call it confidence, some might call it cockiness, but he just has to be right on an issue,” Meagher argued, adding: He needs to be focused on what voters are focused on, which is affordability and cost of living, to David’s point. And I think the quicker he can get back to that message and move on from this, the better. I think he handled this voter very effectively, but we need to move on and get back to what actually matters in this race.