'He was ill-prepared': Karl Rove rips debate prep team after Harris successfully 'baits' Trump

'He was ill-prepared': Karl Rove rips debate prep team after Harris successfully 'baits' Trump
Rep. Matt Gaetz speaking at June 2020 event in Phoenix, Arizona, Gage Skidmore. Rep. Gaetz played an integral role in preparing Donald Trump for his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Election 2024

Karl Rove on Friday slammed “Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Laura Loomer” and Donald Trump’s entire debate prep team after the Republican political consultant argued the former president was “ill-prepared for this debate.”

"I'm amazed,” Rove said on Fox Business. “He was ill-prepared for this debate. Everybody knew that ABC was gonna fact-check. They said they were gonna do it. So be prepared for it.”

Rove held up a dry erase board that read “E-I-B/TW,” explaining Trump should have focused on “the economy, inflation, the border,” and — only when it was mentioned to him — “the world.”

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"Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Laura Loomer — why didn't somebody in that room say, 'Mr President, they're gonna be fact-checking?’” Rove wondered.

Rove went on to describe Trump’s other “major shortcoming” — namely, Vice President Kamala Harris’ ability to successfully “provoke” the former president.

“They knew she was gonna provoke him,” Rove said. “… They knew he was gonna be provoked. They knew she was gonna find some way. And she did it effectively. And he bit every time.”

Rove said Trump should have rebuffed Harris’ efforts to draw him into a conversation about crowd size, noting the former president “could have been confident, could have been strong" in that exchange.

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“[Trump] took the bait and he shouldn’t have taken the bait,” Rove said.

Watch the videos below or at this link.


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