Karl Rove: Colorado ruling serves to energize Trump base
Former George W. Bush aide and Fox News contributor Karl Rove takes a closer look at the ramifications of the landmark ruling on 'The Story.'
The 4-3 decision by Colorado's all-Democrat state Supreme Court nixing former President Trump from the 2024 ballot citing the Fourteenth Amendment's insurrection clause will only serve to help Trump garner more Republican support, former Bush adviser Karl Rove told Fox News.
Rove suggested the move will be a fundraising goldmine for the former president, while also drawing in Republicans who may or may not already be supporting Trump's candidacy.
"It serves to energize the Trump supporters and to give the former president a chance to raise more money from people who are suddenly going to be angry about what's going on," he said on "The Story."
"This does not look fair, does not look appropriate. And the response is going to be to drive up the president's – the former president's numbers."
Former President Donald Trump ((Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
Rove cited a New York Times poll depicting 45% of Americans believing legal actions against Trump are politically motivated, with half believing he committed serious crimes. Rove, however, noted the 50% number is composed of 93% Democrats, while about four-fifths of Republicans were included in the prior figure.
"So you're going to have, among the Republicans, this is going to give the former president, a big, big jump."
Rove added that Democrats now risk appearing entirely hypocritical, citing a series of former Democratic lawmakers for whom the insurrection clause – disqualifying those who committed or encouraged rebellion against the United States – could have similar banned from office.
The topline name was former Confederate Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens, a Georgia Democrat who was elected to the U.S. House after the Civil War ended. Stephens resigned after nearly a decade in the House to ultimately become governor of Georgia.
Rove recounted how the Democratic Party won the House majority in 1874, for the first time since before the war, in part by electing 51 former Confederate military officers or individuals who had served in Jefferson Davis' secessionist government.
COLORADO NIXING TRUMP IS ‘STRIKING UNDEMOCRATIC’ UNITES EXPERTS
"[They] had engaged actually in insurrection and rebellion against the government," he said, noting that the Republican Party would have retained a wide House majority if the insurrection clause was enforced against those lawmakers.
He also pointed out that some former Confederates were actually praised by later presidents like John F. Kennedy lauding the "Profile in Courage" of former Sen. Lucius Q.C. Lamar, D-Miss., for his vote against the Bland-Allison Free Silver Act.
Rove said Lamar, who was later nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Grover Cleveland, had been a Confederate Army officer and member of the breakaway Richmond legislature.
"And yet John Kennedy said this man is an exemplar. And given today's tone, we would have said, you know what, the guy should not be allowed to be in public office or appear on a ballot."
Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also echoed some of Rove's comments, inviting Democrats to "go ahead [and] keep stepping on your own story."
"You keep saying and telling us that Republicans and Donald Trump are going to use their power to go after their political opponents – And yet that's what Joe Biden's doing," he said.
"They keep telling people that, you know, the economy will be worse. But you know what? The economy is worse under Joe Biden. They keep saying that Donald Trump would start wars. And what happened under Joe Biden, we got more wars."
Chaffetz said it is similarly ironic that Democrats are claiming they are "saving democracy" by undemocratically banning opposition candidates from the presidential ballot.
"You are doing more to help the Republican Party than anything the Republicans could do by themselves," he said.
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