GOP operative Karl Rove has warned that Donald Trump’s “dangerously low” approval rating could sink Republicans’ midterm hopes.
Rove, the former deputy chief of staff for George W. Bush, listed in a Wall Street Journal column several ways in which the president has been making things worse for members of his party. Trump, whose 39.4 percent approval rating on Thrusday was the worst of his second term, finds himself at a “dangerously low” point, Rove wrote, as GOP odds to hold the House and Senate lessen.
To fix things, Rove began, the White House needs better “message discipline” on the Iran war—a difficult problem because the main action ended over a month ago, and so “there’s very little for generals to comment on.”
Trump’s “erratic late-night missives” are also an issue, Rove argued. The sleep-deprived, 79-year-old president’s Truth Social posts have drawn scrutiny over not only their content, but their timing and frequency.
“The president comes across more as a heckler at a UFC match than as a reassuring wartime commander in chief,” Rove, 75, wrote for the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper.
“Mr. Trump is also mucking up his domestic messaging. He quickly swamped the good with bad,” Rove continued, contrasting Trump’s news conference about the TrumpRx website with his routine talk about the White House ballroom.
“The president’s promoting his $1 billion request for White House ‘security measures’ 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 wrote. “To compound the harm, the president originally promised the ballroom would cost $200 million, then $400 million, all paid for with private donations.”
Trump’s boasts about the “Triumphal Arc” also risk making voters feel that he doesn’t care about them, Rove added.
For these reasons, congressional Republicans in close races should be allowed to create some distance between themselves and the president, Rove advised.
“Let them disagree with his $1 billion ballroom and $1.8 billion slush fund that critics are concerned could go to Jan. 6 felons. Then keep Mr. Trump from expressing his rage on Truth Social. Let candidates put forth their own ideas for lowering costs, cutting waste or reducing regulation, without waiting for presidential permission,” he wrote.
When reached for comment, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales maintained that Trump “is the Republicans’ best messenger and motivator.”
“The President will draw a sharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical Democrats in Congress, who allowed millions of illegal aliens to pour across the border, created the worst inflation crisis in decades, voted against no taxes on tips, Social Security, and overtime pay, and remain extremely soft on crime,” she added. “In the months ahead, President Trump will continue fighting to lower costs for working families while traveling across the country to highlight his accomplishments alongside Republicans in Congress.”
