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David Axelrod, a Democratic political consultant and strategist, received backlash online for noting that emergency services in Chicago had declined to assist a seemingly homeless man outside the Art Institute of Chicago.
“An elderly man, probably homeless, was sprawled unconscious on the museum’s front stone steps in the midst of a heat emergency. I called 911, and the operator said, ‘Well, is he ASKING for help?’ When I said no, she said, ‘Well, I’m not going to send anyone.’ So the man remained, passed out in the blazing noon sun. I guess that’s how the City of Chicago deals with such situations,” Axelrod wrote.
“I hope we’re not all complicit in assisting an unintended suicide,” Axelrod, the chief strategist for Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential victories, said.
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Former Obama advisor David Axelrod (Screenshot/HBO)
His comments sparked mockery online when observers highlighted similar encounters in a number of other Dem-run cities in the U.S.
“David Axelrod comes face to face with Democratic policies in action… turns out he doesn’t like them very much,” Abigail Jackson, a White House deputy press secretary, observed on X.
GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s deputy chief counsel, Erielle Azerrad, said, “Anyone who lived in the Mission district of SF has like 20 stories like this.”
“It’s awful to hear. It’s also why most of us who have witnessed it are so vehemently opposed to socialist nonsense ruining our once awesome cities. Welcome to the party, dude,” she continued.
“Democrat policy which you dedicated your career to impose,” New York Post columnist Miranda Devine posted on X.
“Does David Axelrod own a mirror?” conservative strategist Steve Guest wondered.
Earlier this year, the city, led by Mayor Brandon Johnson, launched a five-year homelessness initiative with the goal of making homelessness “rare, brief and nonrecurring.” The plan centers on seven core strategies, including emergency services, housing, health, education, employment, community cohesion and systems alignment.
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has launched a community engagement effort called Repair Chicago to gather experiences of harm of Black Chicagoans as part of an effort to implement reparations. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The plan does not come with a stated budget expectation but partners with several other city programs, such as a $1.2 billion housing initiative.
At least one other Democratic voice bashed Axelrod’s description and the city’s response.
“This is awful and unacceptable. In a case like this or a freezing/blizzard spell, the city must mobilize to render necessary aid, even if its refused,” Susana Mendoza, a candidate for Chicago mayor, said in her own post.
“Despite all the talk from this mayor and his administration about helping people like this in urgent need, they have abandoned them.”
Notably, Axelrod described how the man had spoken with security at the Art Institute but declined to move or accept assistance.
“I asked a museum security guard about it and she said she had woken him 3 times and suggested he move into the shade and he refused each time,” Axelrod wrote.
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A scenic view of Chicago (iStock)
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When asked about the situation, the Art Institute of Chicago confirmed to Fox News Digital that a man had been outside the building and added that he had departed.
“We are aware that a museum security officer checked on an individual on the front steps and that person left on their own accord shortly after,” the institute said in a statement.
