LOS ANGELES.–Karl Rove, 74, former President George W. Bush chief strategist, slammed 78-year-old President Donald Trump for not delivering in his first hundred days on lower prices and a stronger economy. No fan of Trump, Rove predicted in the 2024 election that Trump would lose the election to 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris. Rove takes all the credit for Bush’s two terms in office but never the blame for the disastrous Iraq War that not only killed over 4,431 U.S. soldiers but destabilized the Middle East, flooding Iraq with terrorists before Bush toppled Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein April 10, 2003. Total costs to the Iraq War under Rove’s war strategy was $1.1 trillion to the U.S. Treasury, starting a string of budget deficits that still plague the U.S. economy. Yet Rove has no problem ripping Trump, essentially pandering to Democrats now on the warpath.
Trump’s enemies are furious about Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] led by billionaire Elon Musk, cutting the funding and dismantling many government programs, especially Social Security. Rove blames Trump for increasing inflation, not reducing it, something he promised in the 2024 campaign. “His policies will almost certainly continue to be a mixture of deliberately planned, well-executed ideas and those concocted on the fly,” not really knowing much about Trump’s tariff policy, trying, unlike other administrations, to fix the government’s longstanding trade imbalance. If Trump destabilized financial markets temporarily trying to fix unfair trade practices, at least he tried to do something. Certainly some things backfired, causing more short-term havoc but at least testing the water with foreign powers with unfair trade practices toward the U.S.
Rove knows little about economy, other what he’s picked up “on the fly,” holding no college degree or education in economics or foreign policy. Whatever he’s learned he’s picked up through the school of hard knocks, a kind of on-the-job training. So, for Rove to criticize Trump’s economic policies he lacks any credibility, other than what most political strategists know related to demographics and polling. “The former include his undoing of the Biden administration’s excessive regulatory rules and red tape. The latter, the Department of Government Efficiency [DODGE] and removing fluoride from drinking water,” Rove said. What does the Department of Health and Human Services have to with anything related to the economy? Trump’s HHS Cabinet Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has nothing to do with happening in the economy.
Rove’s criticisms of Trump mirror the Neocon movement of perpetual foreign wars. Rove had no criticism for Biden funding proxy war with the Kremlin in Ukraine, destroying decades of diplomacy, détente and arms control. Even Rove’s former boss, George W. Bush, had workable, pragmatic relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Making a good suggestion to the Trump White House, Rove doesn’t understand why they don’t explain Trump’s economic and foreign policy. “And there’s something shocking about this White House to an old politico like me: It doesn’t spend much time drawing attention to the president’s successes. Rather than patiently explain his actions and why they’re good for America, the president and his advisers move from one thing to another, seemingly at random,” Rove says. But why doesn’t Rove point out Trump’s successes?
Rove has been part of the Never Trump or anti-Trump Republicans, all because Trump questioned the wisdom of Bush’s Iraq War, costing U.S. live and draining the Treasury. Rove knows, but says nothing, about Trump’s efforts to end the Ukraine War, attempting to reset normal U.S.-Russian relations after four years of Biden’s catastrophe. Biden did more damage ot U.S.-Russian relations than all his predecessors since the end of WW II. Trump has faced a tall order ending the Ukraine War, especially with Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky growing dependent on U.S. government largess to fund his bankrupt Kiev government and fight with the Kremlin. “There’s way too much retribution. Most of the president’s revenge attempts will end badly for him,” Rove said, repeating favorite Democrat talking points but not dealing with Democrat weaponization.
Trump needs some time and patience to succeed at his economy programs and foreign policy. Rove talks about Trump’s “retribution,” but what about former President Barack Obama and former President Joe Biden’s retribution against Trump, accusing him of collusion with the Kremlin and, more recently, fabricating a wide variety of legal cases against Trump that abused the Justice Department and other government agencies? Rove talks about Trump’s retribution but what about what Obama and Biden did to Trump? Rove mirrors Democrat talking points and those of the Never Trump movement, now in the dustbin. Trump needs to readjust his policies and stay the course to improve the U.S. economy and foreign policy. Trump’s work on peace in Ukraine should earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump’s work on nuclear nonproliferation in Iran could get him a second peace prize.
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.
