LOS ANGELES.–Speaking to anti-Trump Neil Cavuto on Fox News, former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove said former President Donald Trump finds himself in a “subordinate” role to 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris 100 days before the Nov. 5 election. Polls are utterly meaningless this many months from the election because most voters could care less about the race. Voters start paying attention after Labor Day when the campaign really heats up. Talking to Cavuto, Rove gets to bash Trump for his critical remarks about his former boss, especially over the Iraq War, where some 4,4092 U.S. soldiers died and another 32,292 injured. Trump ran in 2016 criticizing Bush’s Iraq War as another example of a failed U.S. foreign war costing the U.S. Treasury over a trillion dollars. Since the 2016 campaign, when Trump beat former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Rove has been out to get Trump.
When it comes to Trump’s 2020 loss, Rove had no sympathy for Trump, blamed his loss on Trump’s obnoxious personality when, in fact, it was largely due to Covid-19. Voters were scared to death in the fall of 2020 watching more American citizens hospitalized and die of the deadly novel coronavirus. President Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris built their campaign around Trump’s failed management of the global infectious disease crisis. Democrats used former chief Covid medical officer Dr. Anthony Fauci and Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward to discredit Trump, saying he didn’t do enough to take Covid seriously or protect American citizens. Trump’s campaign was sabotaged from within by Fauci and other Trump critics looking for a change in 2020. Well, they got not so popular Joe Biden who spent the last four years fueling inflation and foreign wars.
Rove likes to use his white board to keep things simple, believing most voter don’t have a clue about politics or how to make any kind of forecasts. “I think the attitudes by Labor Day are going to be really important. So she needs to come blowing out of that convention in Chicago and showing big crowds and lots of enthusiasm,” Rove said, stating the obvious. Rove thinks Trump has problems. “Trump he has difficulties too. And he’s got to frame Harris. He’s got to find the right message to go after because, as Lucas said, we’ve got 101 days as of today, then he’s go to get back in control of the dialogue,” Rove told Cavuto. Well, Trump has painted Harris as a continuation of the Biden presidency, with its high inflation, foreign wars and emphasis on Roe v. Wade and women’s rights. Rove doesn’t have much good to say about Trump in the past or now.
Harris rides a big bounce from Biden calling it quits with most Democrats, Republicans and independents thinking he was too old to run for president. What insight does Rove have telling Cavuto that things will change after Labor Day, the obvious start of the 2024 presidential race. Kamala has no real message on the campaign trail other that she plans to continue the Biden legacy of high inflation and perpetual foreign wars. Trump has been defining Harris from July 21, the day Biden threw in the towel. “He’s clearly in a subordinate role he. He feels uncomfortable with it. I suspect, and he likes being the guy who’s setting the tempo of the campaign. And that’s not happening,” Rove said, knowing that Kamala has the DNC convention to look forward to where she’ll get all the attention. In a few days, Kamala announces her pick for a running mate, something to impact the race.
Democrats have found only criticism for Trump’s pick of 39-year-old Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), taking shots at him for backing the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 project, a 900-page conservative wish list that Democrats call racist. Rove knows that Trump will be defending accusations of white supremacy and racism for the duration of the 2024 campaign. Harris and Democrats will do their best to demonize Trump as trying to destroy civil and gender rights in America. While they don’t have Covid to run on in 2024, Democrats no doubt will go back to the well of accusing Republicans of racism, especially with Kamala at the top of the ticket. Kamala raised $200 million in record time, having plenty of cash for attack ads painting Trump and the GOP as racists. Rove offers Cavuto no insights at all at how the campaign morphs after the DNC convention.
Whatever bounce in the polls Kamala gets today for just taking over from Biden, it’s bound to continue until after the convention. Trump saw little bounce from the RNC convention, largely because there was so much chaos and uncertainty with Biden’s decision to eventually drop out. Unlike 2020 where Biden was leading Trump by some eight to 10%, current polls have Harris and Trump in a virtual dead heat. With Rove’s help, Democrats present a unified front with Harris at the helm but there are underlying doubts about her ability to pull off a successful campaign. Democrat talking points accusing Republicans and Trump of racism won’t play for too long before it backfires. “And so this is going to be a barnburner and it’s very much up for grabs and the next two or three weeks are going to be critical for both camps,” Rove said, again saying virtually nothing.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
