Famed Republican strategist Karl Rove claims that Americans are “already exhausted” of President Donald Trump, less than 100 days into his second term.
Rove argued in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that “voters made crystal clear” what they wanted from the new administration — lower prices and a better economy.
Trump promised to reduce inflation, but instead, he started a trade war, Rove stated, noting that many expect prices to rise. He also criticized the administration for supporting new issues not mentioned during the campaign.
“His policies will almost certainly continue to be a mixture of deliberately planned, well-executed ideas and those concocted on the fly,” the former deputy White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush stated. “The former include his undoing of the Biden administration’s excessive regulatory rules and red tape. The latter: the Department of Government Efficiency and removing fluoride from drinking water.”
Rove also criticized Trump’s extensive use of executive orders rather than legislation, as a new president can undo those actions with their own orders.
“And there’s something shocking about this White House to an old-school politico like me: It doesn’t spend much time drawing attention to the president’s successes. Rather than patiently explaining his actions and why they’re good for Americans, the president and his advisers move from one thing to another, seemingly at random,” he adds.
The former Bush advisor said, “There’s way too much retribution. Most of the president’s revenge attempts will end badly for him.”
“Republicans could rue the day they set a new justification for retaliation from Democrats,” he argued.
Rove stated that Trump’s presidency often helps parties opposing him in other countries, citing the turnaround in fortunes of the Liberal Party in Canada and in Australia, where the conservatives are seen as too much in lockstep with the president.
The Republican also took aim at the Democrats, saying that they’re unlikely to be an effective opposition until they “get a better mainstream message and messengers.”
He said the Democrats having New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as “the party’s most prominent faces now is helping Republicans.”
The country remains divided ahead of the polling of what Americans think of Trump’s second term, which will accompany his hundredth day in office on April 30, Rove said.
“Democratic and Republican true believers are locked in. It’s the 15 percent to 20 percent of voters who didn’t like their choices last year that matter most,” he said.
“Trump started with 50.5 percent approving, 44.3 percent disapproving in the RealClearPolitics polling average a week after he was sworn in,” he added. “Those RCP numbers went upside down March 13 and today stand at 46.9 percent approving, 50.3 percent disapproving, a nearly 10-point margin shift in the wrong direction. My hunch is things will get worse before they get better.”
