CNN’s Axelrod Asks Pro-Trump Congressman After Town Hall: ‘Could He Go Out And Kill Somebody’ And Still Get Your Vote?

CNN analyst David Axelrod challenged pro-Trump Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds to say whether ex-President Donald Trump could “go out and kill somebody” and still earn Donalds’s vote.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins moderated a now-infamous CNN town hall with Trump at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire Wednesday night, which quickly devolved into a chaotic spectacle that had Collins rushing to correct Trump as best she could and fighting through a blizzard of Trump patter and abuse.

Jake Tapper anchored the postgame coverage, which was dominated by discussions of the torrent of lies that Collins tried hard to keep up with. But at one point, Rep. Donalds argued the reason to accept Trump despite indictments and impeachments and sexual abuse verdicts “is because Republican voters want him to come back.”

Axelrod extended that premise to extremes by asking Donalds “Is there anything that would be — that you would consider beyond the pale? Or would you just set everything aside, and say, ‘Well, this is what people want. So, those peccadilloes, we’re going to let alone’?”:

AXELROD: Look, I accept that — I think that he probably — if I were his political advisers, I actually would say, “This is what we wanted. We had — we got what we wanted.” And he was talking to his–

URBAN: Yes.

AXELROD: –he was talking to his base, and he rallied his base. If I were his lawyers, I’d be deeply concerned, about what–

FARAH GRIFFIN: Well–

AXELROD: –what he — what he said, tonight.

But is there anything that — is there anything that would exclude him, even if he is someone, who Republican voters want, back in office, because of the things he did, in terms of policy? Like, could he go out and kill somebody? Could he?

Is there anything that would be — that you would consider beyond the pale? Or would you just set everything aside, and say, “Well, this is what people want. So, those peccadilloes, we’re going to let alone.”

DONALDS: At the end of the day, this is always going to be at the hands of the voters. The voters are going to decide, who they want to support. Polling would dictate that they want to support Donald Trump, by a wide margin, in the Republican Party. I will also say the ABC polling is pretty clear that Americans writ-large want to support him, over Joe Biden. Period.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: So, polling has come up. So, I now have to have to intervene. No, no that–

DONALDS: Go ahead.

AXELROD: Oh, yes, we have a professional.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: –that poll was a little bit of an outlier.

Watch above via CNN.