Karl Rove says Trump is ‘clearly in a subordinate role’ to Harris

Republican strategist Karl Rove said former President Trump needs to regain control of the campaign narrative, because he is in a “subordinate role” compared to Vice President Harris.

Rove outlined what both Trump and Harris need to do to boost their campaigns in the coming weeks during an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto on Saturday. He said the week following the Democratic National Convention will be “critical” for Harris and that she needs “frame herself” and how she is going to attack Trump ahead of the general election.

“I think the attitudes by Labor Day are going to be really important. So she needs to come blowing out of that convention in Chicago and showing big crowds and lots of enthusiasm,” Rove said of Harris.

He then pivoted to Trump.

“He has difficulties too. And he’s got [to] frame Harris. He’s got to find the right message to go after her because, as Lucas said, we’ve got 101 days as of today, then he’s got to get back in control of the dialogue,” he said Saturday.

“He is clearly in a subordinate role here. He feels uncomfortable with it, I suspect, and he likes being the guy who’s setting the tempo of the campaign. And that’s not happening,” he said. 

Harris has been thrust into the spotlight over the past week after President Biden withdrew from the race last week and endorsed her. Her campaign raised more than $200 million in the first week of her campaign as she attempts to drum up enthusiasm from Democrat voters.

Early polls have shown good news for the Harris campaign and Democrats since Biden’s withdrawal from the race, with some national polls showing a close race between Harris and Trump. Harris leads by 2 points in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, while Trump has a 1-point lead over the vice president in a separate poll by The New York Times/Siena College.

Rove said Saturday that nine national polls have been taken since Biden withdrew from the race, warning it would be a close contest between Harris and Trump.

“If you if you take those, those nine polls, it is Trump by 0.88. That’s basically nine-tenths of 1 percent. And that’s after he gets the bump coming out of the convention that really showed a unity for the Republican ticket in the Republican Party,” he said.

“And so this is going to be a barn burner, and it’s very much up for grabs, and the next two or three weeks are going to be critical for both camps,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.