Rove: Trump can’t win
The veteran GOP consultant and party strategist, who’s credited with orchestrating George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 wins, told his host that given recent polls show him dropping well back, Trump must convince a high percentage of voters in battleground states to change their minds.
He doesn’t think the Donald has it in him, especially not with so little time left and with a campaign that is not running smoothly.
“I doubt that in the just over two weeks we’ve got left, conducting the kind of campaign he’s conducting, that he’s going to be able to swing one out of every, you know, 10 voters, one out of every 12 voters, one out of every 15 voters and one out of every 6 voters in a state and convert them,” Rove told host Chris Wallace.
“I don’t see it happening,” he added. “If he plays an inside straight, he could get it, but I doubt he’s going to be able to play it.”
Trump debate mistake
At the third presidential debate last Wednesday, Trump said he may not accept the results of the Nov. 8 election if he loses and intends to leave everyone in “suspense” about what he’ll do. Commenting on that, Rove told Wallace that Trump made a mistake by saying he believes the election may be rigged.
The former deputy chief of staff for Geoge W. Bush said one of the reasons it was a mistake was that it diverted attention away from the rest of Trump’s performance in the debate, which Rove feels Trump did well in.
Rove is not noted for giving up early, or easy; his refusal to accept Fox News’ calling Ohio for President Obama on election night in 2012 is the stuff of legend. He hotly insisted, despite numbers showing otherwise, that Romney still had a chance in the state and election. Romney narrowly lost the state and Obama won the election comfortably.
In that election of 2012, Obama won 332 electoral college votes to Romney’s 206 (270 are needed to win). The way things are going in the 2016 election, Rove said Trump may not win more than 168 electoral college votes.
