The two candidates for President are delivering very different messages this Easter Sunday. Joe Biden is wishing Christians everywhere a Happy Easter and saying, With wars and conflict taking a toll on innocent lives around the world, we renew our commitment to work for peace, security, and dignity for all people. Donald Trump, on the other hand, lashing out with dozens of angry posts in all caps on Truth Social, blasting his political opponents, prosecutors, and judges, saying in part, Happy Easter to all, including those many people I completely and totally despise because they want to destroy America. This, of course, just the day after sharing an image of his political opponent, Joe Biden, tied up and bound in the back of a pickup truck. Trump, tonight, is appearing to test the limits of his gag order in the New York Hush Money case, where he's going to face trial in two weeks. Trump is also ramping up attacks against the judge in that case, Judge Juan Murchan's daughter, posting a link to an article showing her picture just days after attacking her as a, quote, rabid Trump hater. So here now to discuss this and more is CNN senior political commentator and former senior advisor for President Obama, David Axelrod.

So David, look, a lot of times on holidays like these, we do see contrasting messages between former President Trump and others in high office. What do you make of these two very different Easter messages?

Well, look, I think Trump is nothing, if not consistent in the fact that he I mean, he marked Christmas in much the same way. He takes these holidays and he turns them into professes of catastrophe ahead unless he's elected. And this is how he rolls. This is his message that the world is doomed, that the country is doomed unless he is elected and everything's going badly. And he's the strong man who can change it. And, I mean, this is It baked in the cake. The thing about the judge and his daughter is something we should spend some time on, though. What he's clearly doing, he's got a trial coming up in late April. That trial could very well end in a conviction, a felony conviction for him that carries with it significant penalties. I think he's concerned about that. And what he is doing is what he always does, which is he is branding it. He's branding it as a vendetta, political conspiracy. He's trying to link the judge to Biden through his daughter's political consulting firm, and he's trying to cast doubt about the whole process so that if it does go against him, that he can dismiss the whole thing as a political vendetta.

And he's going to keep torquing that up. The danger, Omar, is that people listen to this, and he put the judge's photograph in his feed. This is very, very dangerous. I mean, we saw it happen before the midterm elections, the attack on Paul Pelosi, intended for Nancy Pelosi. People take his word seriously. We saw it happen on January sixth, where he incited a mob to storm the Capitol. I worry about as these trials ratchet up, as the race ratches up, that we're going to see violence because he seems to be intented inside it.

Well, and on that point, look, this is an election year, and as you mentioned, this is a lot of how Trump rolls. So if you're President Biden, and President Biden and President Biden's campaign, how do you counter the dark rhetoric and violent threats from a political standpoint?

Yeah. Well, look, I think that the second part is most important. I think that Biden has a role as a President and a candidate. Someone once said that good government is good politics. This is a case in which it's true. He and not just the President, but all those who support him and all those in positions to speak out, should be speaking out about this. What it does remind people is what you're buying with Donald Trump. You're buying this incendiary rhetoric, this dark, menacing rhetoric that divides and incites. But But it's also important as President of the United States to try and calm things down. I think he should be very, very clear that we can compete, and we can have competing visions of what we shouldn't be doing is inciting people to the point of violence and putting innocent people at risk. And that's what President Trump or a former President Trump is doing with his rhetoric.

Yeah. And look, there is this fascinating waiting, or I think will be significant group of voters that we will see this year. It's those that are done with Trump, but of course, are not quite ready to jump onto Biden. I mean, a lot of Nikki Haley supporters come to mind. And for one, former Secretary former Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, was on this show last night. He said he's absolutely not voting for Trump, but again, he's not quite there on voting for Biden. So how do you bridge that gap from a Biden campaign standpoint to win over what we've already seen over the course of the primary process to be a substantial amount of voters here?

Well, I'll tell you something. Trump is helping. One of the questions is, now that the race is in a general election context and Trump is getting general election coverage, are people going to be reminded of the reasons why they can't vote for him and push to the point where given the choice between Trump, who they can't abide as a person and as a political leader, and Biden, with whom they may have policy differences, where do they fall? I think Trump could push him in that direction. I do think Biden, Jonathan Martin, wrote a column in the Politico on Friday asking why Biden wasn't contacting more of these Republican leaders who have said they can't be for Biden. And what he can't do is promise them that they're going to agree on every issue, although certainly with Mark Esper, they probably have more in common on national security issues than Esper had with Trump. But they do agree on the fact that democracies rest on fundamental rules and laws and norms and institutions. There's a big difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who very, very recklessly would tear those down.

Yeah. Look, while there have been criticisms in regards to Biden, while there have been and explorations of how much enthusiasm there actually is, there's no mistaking that just this past fundraising hall at the event this past week with former presidents Obama and Clinton, they raised a record $26 million there. That comes on top, or I should say adding to what has been a large fundraising haul. So what does that say to you? How significant is that number to you? And what does that say to you about what needs to be done over the course of this election here?

Well, look, it's very significant. I don't think money persuades people to vote. I think people made the mistake of treating the event on Thursday as some message event. It wasn't a good message event for Biden, a bunch of wealthy people at Radio City Music Hall. There were some low-dollar donors there as well, and a star-studded event. That's not going to win him many votes. But the money that he raised is significant because what that allows you to do is build organization in these battleground states. He's down the road to doing that. I think perhaps they should have started sooner, but they're doing it now. There was just a piece. I'm in Arizona right now. There was just a piece here this week about how the Republican Party and the organization of the Republican Parties and tatters in the state because of divisions that Trump has helped propagate. But they have virtually no field organization here in one of the key battleground states. I think you'll find the same as true in Michigan and several other states. Trump has money problems, and he has money problems because he's not raising money. A lot of the Republican donors have been turned off by his behavior and by the threat of these indictments and by their sense of what he would be in the second round of his presidency.

But he's also siphoning off money to pay for his legal bills, which are enormous. I think I saw 100 million already, and the bulk of it may is still yet to come, and some of the money that he's raising right now is going to go to pay those legal bills. So that is an advantage that the Biden campaign has. It also obviously translates into the ability to run media and ads in key states, which I'm sure they'll begin to do shortly. So there are a lot of things that you can do if you have the resources to do it, and Biden will have it. It's really an open question as to whether Trump does.

Yeah. Look, a lot of factors at play. That's why I'm glad we've got you here. David Oxerod, thanks so much for being with us.

Great to see you, Omar. Great to see you. Happy Easter to everyone.

Happy Easter.