Karl Rove
Longtime Republican political consultant Karl Rove is warning that President Donald Trump’s own actions could be “helping Democrats” take back the House, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the GOP’s midterm chances are at risk, as Mediaite reports.
“Gerrymandering helped Republicans. But the president’s actions are helping Democrats. That could give Democrats the House,” Rove wrote.
He noted that “Democrats lead on the generic congressional ballot by 6.6 points in Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin average of recent polls and by 11 in the latest New York Times/Siena survey.”Rove suggested President Trump — and his approval numbers — are to blame for the “widening gap,” Mediaite notes.
“The GOP’s chances will get worse if President Trump’s approval numbers keep declining. They’re already dangerously low. Wednesday, his approval hit 39.8% in the RealClearPolitics average, the lowest of his second term so far,” Rove wrote.The GOP “needs better White House message discipline on the Iran war,” he explained.
“Making things worse are Mr. Trump’s erratic late-night missives. The president comes across more as a heckler at a UFC match than as a reassuring wartime commander in chief,” Rove charged.
Trump is also “mucking up his domestic messaging.”Rove praised Trump for announcing Monday he is reducing healthcare costs via TrumpRX.com.
“But long after the memory of that announcement fades, voters will recall Tuesday’s news conference at the White House ballroom construction site,” he said.
The president spoke at length about very specific details of the ballroom and the military complex, including a hospital, that he wants to build underneath it.Trump’s $1 billion request for security enhancements “won’t convert voters.”
“Nor will bragging that ‘there will never be another building like this,’ especially with Americans upset about $5-a-gallon gasoline, which Mr. Trump dismissed as ‘peanuts.'”
Rove suggests Trump stay off the road and not campaign during the midterms, and let Republicans distance themselves if they like.
“Better that he’s chief executive right now than campaigner-in-chief,” Rove suggested.“The more undisciplined the White House messages on war and the economy, the more at risk GOP candidates will be,” Rove wrote. “The more Mr. Trump thrusts himself into the campaign, the more damage he’ll do to Republicans and his own cause.”
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