Friday on CNN’s “New Day,” former chief strategist for Barack Obama David Axelrod, also a CNN contributor, said President Donald Trump is like Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned, because the Trump administration’s environmental policies are “rolling back” measures meant to “combat climate change” which is exacerbating the wildfires in California.

When asked about Trump rolling back Obama’s legacy, Axelrod said. “Well, look, let me make clear, and I’ve said this before here, and elsewhere, I don’t care about the Obama legacy. History will take care of that. It’s the practical implications of these policies. You guys read news, and so you’re covering stories at the same time the administration rolling back these measures that are meant to try and combat climate change, and these runaway wildfires in the west and these floods in the east, there are real implications to these policies. You look at the wildfires. Trump is literally Nero while the west burns and that is what concerns me, the real-life implications of this.”

When asked about a disconnect between the president and White House officials on Russian election meddling, Axelrod said, “We have a bipolar administration. We have a president saying one thing and his administration saying another. It’s important they did what they did. It’s also important for the president to stop undercutting that message and sending signals to Moscow that the back door is going to be open.”

He added, “I think it puts us in jeopardy. I have confidence in people who were standing on that platform. I think they were serious people. They’ve been attacked by this president as well. But when the president speaks, people listen, and Vladimir Putin listens as well. We need to be — we need to move forward as one. And it’s concerning and bewildering that this president is willing to undercut these folks on what is a major, major concern for our democracy.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN