Karl Rove: If Trump is nominee, GOP will lose White House and Senate

The Hill ^ | 1/08/2016 | By Mark Hensch

[nikos1121]

The Republican Party will lose the White House, the Senate and many of its House seats if Donald Trump becomes the party's presidential nominee, according to Karl Rove.

“If Mr. Trump is its standard-bearer, the GOP will lose the White House and the Senate, and its majority in the House will fall dramatically,” the Republican wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal

Rove, who was a top adviser to former President George W. Bush, said nominating Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for president could also be dangerous. “If the nominee is Ted Cruz the situation is still dicey,” he wrote.

“Any of the other candidates, if nominated, will best Mrs. Clinton in a close race and help the GOP narrowly keep the Senate,” Rove added, referring to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Rove for doubting his campaign. He said last November that Rove is a “biased dope” who lost “100 percent” of the money he spent during the 2012 election cycle.

Rove's super-PAC, American Crossroads, spent tens of millions of dollars in 2012 trying to elect Mitt Romney president.

“I think Karl Rove still thinks Romney won,” Trump quipped Friday on “The Mike Gallagher Show.”

In his op-ed, Rove sketched out several scenarios in the op-ed that he says could stop Trump's ascent.

“If the GOP contest narrows to two or three candidates by March 15, Mr. Trump will not be the party’s nominee,” he wrote.

“If on the Ides of March someone wins both the winner-take-all primaries in Florida (by Congressional district) and Ohio (statewide), that person will be the nominee,” Rove added.

No matter who wins, Rove said the GOP standard-bearer would have an uphill battle against Clinton.

“It will be an ugly contest,” he wrote. "Mrs. Clinton will try to overcome her flaws by scorching her opponents."

“The FBI will recommend action against Mrs. Clinton’s former aides over her private email server, but not against Hillary,” Rove wrote.

Trump maintains a roughly 15-point lead over Cruz in national polls of the Republican race. The pair’s popularity has alarmed the GOP establishment, which fears that either one could be a weak candidate in the general election.gogol

[toddausauras]

Trump will prevail.

[Amendment10]

Thanks. Only had to scroll as far as post 2 for that one.

[Swede Girl]

Wrong.

[toddausauras]

Rove, such tired old thinking.

[BatGuano]

Karl Rove, get to roving will ya? You are the poster boy for the GOP losers. No sense listening to you, you are a has-been.

[nikos1121]

Hahahahahahaaaa

[nikos1121]

Ok, now I understand after hitting the reference button. Yeah, who posted that? It’s totally wrong.

[nikos1121]

I saw that, and you are correct.

[5th MEB]

Short, fat, and bald, are not Karls fault; STUPID IS.

[DoughtyOne]

The same guy has been posting it for between two and three months now, many times per day.

He has had folks explain to him that it is inaccurate, but he doesn’t care if his post is untrue. Thus he represents “the Christian” Ted Cruz, by being deceitful and a social outcast malcontent.

[ArcadeQuarters]

If Karl Rove is your adviser, you will not only lose the presidential race but will lose a whole lot of money as well.

[Pelham]

[nikos1121]

I like Cruz, but I’m sorry, he doesn’t generate any excitement. I won’t spend five minutes listening to his Rally where by I look forward to Trump. We’ve all heard the same schpiel, but we’ll be listening again in REno, NV tomorrow. Why? beats me, but we will.

I’ve never seen anything like this in my life time. I haven’t. I think REagan probably was pretty loose up there too, and spoke from the heart, but Trump just wings it, and you can’t fake that. Night after night he comes through.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree that he does. I was thinking the other night about what a communicator he is.

His detractors underestimate him.

Some folks criticize him for saying the same things night after night (day after day), but he covers his platform. That isn’t changing so he’s going to say the same things. Who knew?

He does throw fresh stuff in from current events too, so it’s not really just the same. He covers a lot of the same ground, but he’s always thinking, and it never comes out the same way twice.

You won’t see anything like this again either. Relish every moment of it. This is fleeting.

Trump is hawking your beliefs. How often does that happen?

And still, some folks are unhappy about it.

Whew!

[DoughtyOne]

BTW: Your take and my take on Cruz charisma, seems to be identical.

[Pelham]

+1

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Pelham.

Hope things are going good for you.

[McGruff]

Great job there Karl.

[nikos1121]

There are tons of people in my company who haven’t listened to one rally, read one word or anything on the candidates. Many won’t until a week or two before.

Looked at his schedule. Amazing.

Upcoming Events

•Reno, NV - Jan 10, 2016
•Windham, NH - Jan 11, 2016
•Cedar Falls, Iowa - Jan 12, 2016
•Pensacola, FL - Jan 13, 2016
•FOX Business GOP Debate, SC - Jan 14, 2016
•Liberty U, VA - Jan 18, 2016
•Sioux Center, IA - Jan 23, 2016
•FOX News GOP Debate, IA - Jan 28, 2016
•ABC GOP Debate, NH - Feb 6, 2016
•CBS GOP Debate, SC - Feb 13, 2016

And a lot of dates in between where he will be in Iowa.

[Pelham]

Going fine. Like you, I am savoring a political campaign that I never expected to see and surely will never witness again.