CNN political commentator David Axelrod claimed that Sen. Bernie Sanders is "not a socialist."

During the network's analysis after Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary debate in South Carolina, Axelrod said President Trump would invoke Sanders's past of expressing sympathies for communism if they go head-to-head in the general election. However, he later said that, despite Sanders's political identification, he does not fit the true definition of a socialist.

"The Republicans and Donald Trump are going to make the same case against any Democratic candidate, but it's easier to make when that Democratic candidate embraces the title of socialist and doesn't refute it," Axelrod, who was a strategist and adviser to President Barack Obama, prefaced his comments.

"The truth of the matter is, Bernie Sanders is not a socialist," he continued. "I mean, if you look it up in the dictionary, he's not calling for, you know, society to own the means of production and all of that stuff."

Sanders, who self-identifies as a "democratic socialist," pointedly defined his worldview during his interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, telling CBS correspondent Anderson Cooper, "Let's use the federal government to protect the interests of working families."

In 1972, Sanders said he was not insulted when others labeled him a "communist."

"I don't mind people coming up and calling me a communist," he said at the time. "At least they're still alive."