GOP strategist Karl Rove predicted Saturday that deploying National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities would ultimately be a losing issue for President Trump, despite objections from the states’ respective governors.
In an interview on Fox News’s “The Journal Editorial Report”, Rove pointed to a Recent Reuters/Ipsos poll 58 percent of American adults say the president should deploy troops only to areas with external threats — including 72 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of those who consider themselves “other.”
Only 37 percent of the public says the president should be able to send troops to a state “even if its governor objects” — including 70 percent of Republicans, 13 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of respondents who don’t belong to either party.
“If a governor objects, it starts to feel like partisanship,” Rove said, reviewing the polling numbers. “Republicans say, ‘Yes, override the governor’; Democrats say, ‘No;’ And independent Democrats take the side of the voters and say, ‘No, I don’t think it should be that way.'”
Rove said he is concerned about what effect the numbers will have on support for the president, even though some voters concerned about crime may appreciate action by the president to address the issue.
“I think if the question is whether the president should do this or should he do that, ultimately it will be a defeat,” Rove said in remarks. First highlighted by Mediaite“On the other hand, saying, ‘Well, at least he’s taking action,’ might get him a little bit of a boost among people concerned about crime.”
“But, overall, I think this will ultimately lead to the president’s defeat,” he added.
Host Paul Gigot said the administration would likely say Trump is sending the National Guard to these cities to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and facilities. For example, state and local officials in Illinois have not cooperated with federal authorities, he said.
Rove agreed that Trump has the right to deploy troops to protect federal facilities, but said it remained to be seen whether the public would agree with the president describing the 2025 protests in Portland, Oregon, as similar to the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
“Look, he has the authority to deploy the National Guard to protect federal facilities. I think the public, however, will look at this and decide whether: Are they going to see the same thing they saw during the summer of 2020, and the riots in Portland, the nighttime assault on the federal courthouse? Or will it, you know, be protesters outside a facility in suburban Chicago?”
Rove suggested that Trump would appear more justified in his approach if the protests escalated from peaceful protests.
Rowe added, “I mean, how it goes will depend on how the local people take it.” “If it gets hot, yes, the president is going to look better. If it doesn’t get hot, if it’s really like meeting the security needs of federal facilities, I’m not sure that’s going to work to his advantage.”
“We saw it a little bit in Portland, where the president was asked about it and he said, ‘Well, you know, I’m hearing there are fires and riots and a lot of violence every night.’ I don’t know where he was getting it from because that’s not what they’re seeing on Portland TV,” he said.
By Wednesday night, about 200 Texas National Guard troops and 300 Illinois National Guard troops had been activated in the Greater Chicago area.an updateFrom US Northern Command. local officials A lawsuit has been filed to stop the deployment.
A later update on Friday indicated that National Guard troops in Chicago and Portland “are not conducting any operational activities at this time.”
