Former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove warned in a new op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that Republicans will be in for a nightmare if they nominate Trump for a third time in 2024.
"As Democrats savor their victories in Tuesday’s Ohio abortion referendum, Kentucky governor’s race and Virginia and New Jersey legislative contests, they might be tempted to ignore the implications of a Nov. 3 New York Times/Siena College poll that shows Donald Trump beating Joe Biden in five of six 2024 battleground states. Mr. Trump lost all six in 2020," wrote Rove.
This presents a real risk for the president, he said — but nevertheless, the evidence is clear: voters don't want Trump either.
"Apparently voters like what they see as the GOP’s values on the economy, defense, immigration, crime and the national debt," wrote Rove. "Democratic messaging mavens can try casting a fresh Republican as a Jan. 6 insurrectionist, an election-denying fabulist, a demagogic white supremacist. But voters wouldn’t be responding so positively in polls if they thought “Republican” was synonymous with all that nonsense."
And by nominating Trump, Rove continued — whatever the polls say now — that is going to stick in voters' minds, giving them a choice that they don't want to have to make.
"Neither party’s front-runner will be easily dislodged," concluded Rove. "But if no changes are made, Americans will get the worst dumpster fire of a campaign in history. It doesn’t have to be this way, and everyone but Messrs. Trump and Biden has good reason to try changing it. The party that picks a fresh face will likely win the White House."
