Republican strategist Karl Rove said former President Trump has wasted time focusing on “inconsequential” issues during his campaign and encouraged the GOP nominee to lead a “more disciplined” race going forward.
In an interview Saturday on Fox News’s “Cavuto Live,” host Neil Cavuto questioned why Trump “spends an inordinate amount of time talking about how the Democrats look ready to steal another election, saying that they cheat,” and “spends even more time focusing on a debate he clearly lost.”
“Yeah, Neil, I’m surprised that you left out one of the critical issues in this campaign, which is Fluffy and Fido are being eaten in Springfield, Ohio, which we are spending an inordinate amount of time on,” Rove responded, referring to the unsubstantiated claims Trump and his running mate JD Vance have amplified about migrants eating pets.
Rove, in an interview highlighted by Mediaite, outlined three important resources that campaigns have at their disposal — money, issues and time — and noted only time cannot be replenished.
“If you chew up time, you cannot create more time. You can always raise more money, You can always raise additional issues, but you can’t create more time,” Rove said.
“And he has chewed up valuable time talking about inconsequential things,” the strategist continued, referring to Trump.
Rove pointed to two recent Fox News polls that surveyed respondents on which candidate they trust more to handle various issues. Rove noted that, while Trump still leads on immigration and the economy, his advantage over Vice President Harris narrowed from one poll to the next.
“So if you don’t stay focused on the big issues and you don’t lay out a forward-looking agenda that people can get their hands around, then you’re going to diminish the leads that you might have because of what you did four years ago,” Rove said. “And that’s exactly what’s happening.”
“We’ve got 39 days left, and if he’s not more disciplined, he could well lose this,” Rove continued.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for a response.
