Rove: Trump needs ‘much more disciplined message’

Republican strategist Karl Rove criticized former President Trump’s campaign message Monday.

“Well, smart to go to a critical state,” Rove told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum on “The Story,” discussing a campaign event Trump did Monday in York, Pa., in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “Much more disciplined message needed.”

Rove follows other Republican voices pushing Trump to focus on policy instead of instead of personal attacks against Vice President Harris, who has been gaining in the polls. 

“I’ve been through this twice,” Rove said. “And you want to go to your … you want to go to these places, and you want to have a simple message that the media has to cover. Instead, he gives ‘em a gigantic smorgasbord. Some of it is written into his speech draft, but apparently some of it is just ad hoc, and they get to pick and choose.”

“And who thinks that the dominant media in this country is gonna pick the thing that is best productive for him in getting votes?” Rove added. “They’re gonna pick out something like he just said, casting dispersions on Kamala Harris or President Biden.”

Last week, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said a “winning formula” for Trump involves “fewer insults.”

“The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see,” Conway said on Fox Business. “It’s fewer insults, more insights and that policy contrast.”

Harris has been gaining in the polls since Biden left the presidential race late last month, now leading him by 3 points in an average of national polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, with the vice president garnering 49.4 percent support to the former president’s 46.4 percent support.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign.