US President Donald Trump looks on on the day he makes an announcement about an energy infrastructure project in Alaska, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 30, 2026.
Republican strategist Karl Rove cultivated a career as the mastermind behind the success of George W. Bush and other Republican leaders, but Rove says President Donald Trump is delivering the very opposite of success with his many recent blunders and chaotic behavior.
“Messaging is one of the few areas of Team Trump’s execution we can judge in real time. The past month it’s been awful,” Rove told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. “Especially given Mr. Trump’s poor approval numbers, he has to drive home each day what the GOP has accomplished and will accomplish — and clearly contrast that with what Democrats believe and promise. Instead, we’ve gotten off-putting confusion.”
Rather than building a strong, clear and convincing message of reason Rove points out that Trump went straight to the bribe in early September, promising every adult $5,000 if the GOP managed to keep the House and Senate after November.
“There was no prior consultation with congressional Republicans, and there were conflicting explanations of how it would be paid for,” said Rove. “No choir of supportive voices cheering the idea had been organized. It was crickets.
Then that same month, Trump’s kid admitted to the media that a Russian oligarch paid for his lavish post-wedding celebrations, something Rove warned was “never a good look.”
“Two days later, the president asserted Iranian leaders ‘want to make a deal.’ Six days after that, he said he might have to ‘annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.’ This left voters whipsawed,” Rove said.
And before the month was over Trump threatened the Kennedy Center, saying it would “end up being ripped down” unless the administration received “recognition” with Trump’s name on the building. And then Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House press room.
A judge soon restored access with a temporary restraining order as the outlets’ lawsuit against the administration proceeds, which looks about as clear a loss as possible.
Mingle this with Trump’s so-called “lovefest” with New York City Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani and last week’s White House dinner honoring Xi Jinping and Trump’s praise of the dictator as “truly outstanding, amazing” and Rove said the ugly looks just keep coming.
“Now there’s controversy over the White House’s using government money to run partisan ads as ‘public service announcements,’ with Republicans spending nearly $1 billion on election ads,” said Rove. “Adding $2.5 million in taxpayer dollars isn’t going to win votes. It only creates another needless distraction,” now punctuated by Trump’s Truth Social post that he is converting his planned Triumphal Arch at Arlington National Cemetery into “a top grade Military Complex,” complete with “drones, plus Snipers” with “large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.”
“Who will snipers be targeting?” laments Rove. “Commuters on the parkway the arch will overlook? All these items dominated the news cycle. None advanced the Republican cause. They wasted time that can’t be recovered — time that could have been spent explaining how the GOP is fighting inflation, showing how it’s stopping fraud and wasteful spending, sharpening contrasts with Democrats on issues swing voters really care about, or making the case that preventing Iran from impeding the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz will lower gasoline prices.”
“Without better application, the White House’s campaign theory will come to nothing,” warned Rove. “A blue wave is forming. The White House has to do better. Starting now.”
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