Of course Axelrod was 'telling' Joe that his re-election chances as they are today, are blown and that Dementia-Man should step down, but he's also covering his rump by pretending that Joe is the decision maker in that regard, and that he was just innocently hypothesizing.
Everyone knows that unless the Left manufactures another massive emergency-fraud upon this nation allowing for unverifiable oceans of mail-in-voting to occur again, then Joe Biden cannot be rectally inserted into the presidency for a second time; because not even rank and file Dem Party voters like him anymore.
The problem for Joe's handlers -- and they will be the ones deciding Joe's fate -- is that Kamala Harris is also fundamentally unlikable, and rank and file Dem Party voters loathe her.
The third current choice of Gavin Newsome, presents the problem of coming across like a very slimy style of used car salesman with a history full of lemons in his political history. His time as Governor of California has been a disaster for that state. So are even rank and file Dem Party voters stupid enough to vote for Newsome even with the DNC -- through their mainstream media party propagandists -- ordering them to?
Until Joe's handlers decide on a path going forward, Dementia Joe isn't going anywhere.