Karl Rove urges GOP to 'go on the offense' before they lose 'messaging war' to Democrats

Like other Republicans, longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove is celebrating the GOP passing President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" ahead of the July 4 weekend. However, he's urging his party to not allow Democrats to control the narrative.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that Rove is hoping Republicans will be aggressive in selling their bill to voters — particularly given its overwhelming unpopularity in recent polls. Even a Fox News poll from late June showed 59% disapproval for the bill. The political consigliere to former President George W. Bush said that the GOP "had better go on the offense and say, ‘We are doing what you told us to do.’"

"There’s going to be always a tendency to say we got the bill passed, ‘Oh, let’s all take the time off and God, we got it done,’" Rove said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Thursday.

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When host Aishah Hasnie asked the veteran GOP strategist how Republicans could win the "messaging war" over the budget bill, Rove proposed three ways his party could save the reputation of Trump's signature domestic policy legislation. Rove's first step was to let Trump "lead the effort to go out and explain it,” saying he needs to convince Americans "why this is the right thing to do."

Rove also seemed sensitive to the bill's significant cuts to Medicaid funding, with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating that the legislation would slash funding for the popular health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans by more than $1 trillion. According to the CBO's calculations, nearly 12 million people could be kicked off of their health insurance plans as a result of the bill over the next decade. Rove urged the GOP to minimize the cuts to Medicaid and spin them as only impacting undocumented immigrants who "don't belong in the system" (even though they are not eligible for Medicaid).

"The president needs to go out and say that people are going to lose their coverage are the able-bodied who refuse to work," Rove said.

Rove added that Republicans should emphasize that the bill is “going to take time to make its impact felt,” and that it would “help strengthen our economy and control our spending." That could prove difficult however, with the legislation expected to add more than $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

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