Axelrod: L.L. Bean Boycott ‘Unhealthy’

Calls to boycott L.L. Bean because one of the outdoor apparel manufacturer’s owners supported President-Elect Donald Trump represent an “unhealthy” turn for democracy, political strategist David Axelrod said Friday.

Axelrod, the architect of President Obama’s successful 2008 campaign, said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that America has become too polarized.

“I would not not buy L.L. Bean stuff because a board member is supporting Donald Trump.”

“I don’t like demonization, whether it comes from the Left or the Right … I would not not buy L.L. Bean stuff because a board member is supporting Donald Trump,” he said. “This is unhealthy. It’s unhealthy that we turn on each other because of, you know, the candidate that we support. I don’t think it’s good for democracy.”

The boycott calls bubbled up from liberal outrage over Linda Bean’s support for Trump, which included contributing $30,000 to a political action committee supporting Trump.

Trump thanked Bean on Twitter on Thursday and urged supporters to buy from the company.

[lz_radio_ad]

“Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage,” he tweeted. “People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean.”

Axelrod said harsh scrutiny of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump’s pick for attorney general, is appropriate. Sessions, after all, is poised to lead the entire U.S. justice system. Axelrod also defended the extraordinary move by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to testify against Sessions at the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. It was the first time a sitting senator had testified against a colleague at a confirmation hearing.

“Cory Booker’s an ambitious guy,” he said. “I’m sure there are some political benefits to be derived from what he did. And it’s unusual … I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here that he was motivated, at least to a large measure, by legitimate concerns.”

Axelrod said there are areas where Democrats in Congress could work with Trump. He pointed to Trump’s statement at a news conference this week that he wants the government to negotiate better prices for pharmaceutical drugs. Another area is a child care program that Trump floated during the campaign, Axelrod said. He said trade reform is another area of common ground.

[lz_related_box id=”271644″]

LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham asked about Obama’s recent statement that the unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act primarily was a public relations problem, a failure to market the overhaul better.

“There was always — and I knew this from the very beginning — there was always a challenge on the Affordable Care Act, because 85 percent of Americans had insurance,” he said.

Notwithstanding other provisions of the law, Axelrod said, the central focus was on extending coverage to the uninsured.

“For the 85 percent of Americans who had insurance, their feeling was, ‘Well, this isn’t for us,'” he said. “That was the fundamental challenges [sic] of the program.”