Karl Rove compares Trump to Stalin and warns that he should lower his expectations regarding the midterm elections.
Karl Rove, the former Deputy Chief of Staff and senior advisor to President George W. Bush, spoke out against Trump’s rhetoric during a Monday appearance on Fox News Channel‘s “America’s Newsroom.”
The segment began with Fox News playing a clip of Trump telling the crowd at a Saturday rally in Lewis Center, Ohio that people who are expecting Democrats to pick up multiple congressional seats in the midterms will be “very surprised.”
“They’re talking about this blue wave. I don’t think so,” Trump told the crowd, adding: “I think it could be a red wave.”
Asked if he agreed with Trump, Rove responded “I think the president would be well advised to lower expectations rather than raise them.”
Continuing, Rove explained that rarely does the party that holds the White House pick up congressional seats during the midterms, that this has only happened twice since 1934.
He went on to explain that Republicans have a chance to pick up seats in the Senate because ten of the twenty-six Democrats up for re-election are in states that were won by Trump during the 2016 general election and only one of the nine Republicans is from a state won by Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
However, he added that the overall news would be grim for the GOP come November.
“In all likelihood, the Republicans are going to lose seats in the House, they’re going to lose governorships, they’re going to lose state legislative seats,” Rove said, adding: “I think the president would be well-advised to say we face an uphill fight but he feels good about it, rather than set the expectation that somehow or another the Republicans are going to gain across the board with a red wave.”
Rove went on to predict that Republicans would likely lose between twenty to thirty seats in the House, adding that if they lose twenty-three seats they lose control of the House of Representatives.
The conversation focused on Tuesday’s special election in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District between Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson and upstart Democratic challenger Danny O’Connor before turning to Trump’s anti-media rhetoric.
That portion of the segment (which begins at the 6 minute, 30 second mark) began with Fox News showing a recent tweet by Trump, bashing the media.
“The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!” he tweeted.
The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
Asked what his thoughts were “as the president continues to take on the media,” Rove responded that Trump should adopt a more respectful manner when dealing with the press:
“Look I think this is over the top. Every president has a problem with the media. I was in the White House for seven years and I didn’t like the coverage they gave George W. Bush particularly the liberal ‘New York Times’ but I think the president is better if he makes his case on a case-by-case basis. That is to say when they say something that is wrong and then he respectfully disagrees with them.”
Continuing, he added that Trump should stop repeating a phrase used by former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin:
“I think calling names is not helpful to our country from any side. Calling them the enemy of the people that just grates on me. I grew up during the time of the Cold War. That is a phrase that was used by Stalin against the enemies of the communist regime. I think the president would be well advised to tone down the rhetoric.”
You can watch the clip, below:
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