Longtime GOP strategist Karl Rove warned this week that the “muddled mess” around Donald Trump’s “chaotic trade talk” could “badly damage” the Republican Party in the midterms next year, adding that voters would “blame” the president for higher prices and scarce goods.
The stern words from Rove, a longtime Fox News contributor, prompted the president’s trade adviser to rage against the former George W. Bush deputy chief of staff and campaign architect on Rove’s own network.
“Shame on you, Karl Rove,” Peter Navarro growled during a Thursday afternoon appearance on Fox Business.
In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Rove explained that Republicans are stuck dealing with “two messaging challenges” at the moment – Medicaid funding in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” and the president’s tariffs.
“The story isn’t good for the GOP,” Rove noted, pointing out that Trump is severely underwater in polls on his handling of the economy, largely due to concerns that his trade policy will spark inflation and a recession.
“That starts to explain why stock markets drop when Mr. Trump rattles his trade saber and rebound when he walks back his tariff threats,” he added, seemingly referencing the “TACO” strategy Wall Street investors have employed when it comes to the president’s latest trade announcements.
“The administration’s messaging is a muddled mess,” he added. “Republicans should hope the president really believes in reciprocity—the policy that if countries lower their tariffs, we’ll lower ours. He should have confidence that America can compete if the playing field is level.”
“Unless reciprocity prevails, the president’s chaotic trade talk will badly damage Republicans in the midterms,” Rove concluded. “And if the House or Senate flips, the president will find it much harder to advance his priorities in his final two years. Voters won’t blame foreign countries for higher prices or fewer goods. They’ll blame Donald Trump and his Republican Party.”
Meanwhile, shortly after Rove’s column dropped, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had “exceeded his authority” with the majority of the import taxes he’d imposed over the past few months, including last month’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs. A federal appeals court followed up by temporarily reinstating the tariffs until the legal challenges fully play out.
Appearing on Fox Business Network’s The Claman Countdown, Navarro fumed about the “rogue judges” who rejected the administration’s arguments that Trump currently has broad authority to import sweeping tariffs under emergency powers. Fox anchor Liz Claman, meanwhile, reminded Navarro that one of the trade court judges was appointed by Trump himself.
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Navarro had a similar meltdown Thursday when a reporter for The Independent, Andrew Feinberg, asked about the frequency with which the administration attacks judges as “activists” when the president or his officials disagree with their rulings.
“Who is this guy?” the hair-trigger Navarro railed, evading the question in the process.
Claman also brought up Rove’s warning that the ongoing uncertainty over the president’s trade policies and the potential economic damage they could unleash may end up hurting the GOP in upcoming elections. Navarro, echoing the president’s repeated criticism of his one-time political adviser, personally tore into Rove in response.
“Let’s start with Karl Rove. Karl Rove is the guy who lost the Georgia two Senate seats for us. And his day has passed about…a decade ago,” Navarro groused, referencing Republicans losing both of the 2021 Senate runoff races. “He hates the tariffs, he hates Donald Trump.”
He continued: “Anything he says is totally discounted, and he said the same stuff during the first term. He said that consumers were gonna eat the tariffs. They did not. Shame on you, Karl Rove! When are you gonna learn, sir?”
Since Trump first left office after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, Rove has repeatedly criticized the president over his “reckless petulance” and criminal behavior, naturally leading the president to fire back with personal attacks and demands that Fox News fire the Republican consultant.
Following Trump’s return to the White House earlier this year, Rove has sounded the alarm on Trump’s sinking poll numbers while pointing out that Americans are “already exhausted” with the president’s “flood the zone” tactics.
“There’s way too much retribution. Most of the president’s revenge attempts will end badly for him. Republicans could rue the day they set a new justification for retaliation from Democrats,” Rove argued last month.
“I don’t need to have Karl Rove of Fox News to tell me what to do. The guy’s a total Loser who’s been wrong about almost everything!” Trump fired back on Truth Social a few weeks ago.
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