Karl Rove Tells Brian Kilmeade Donald Trump's 'Picker Is Not Good'

Karl Rove, the Republican strategist who spent years as President George W. Bush's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's decision to step into Republican primaries hurt the party in Tuesday's midterm elections.

"It was the President of the United States who short circuited these things and didn't allow the voters to decide who the nominee of the Republican Party was gonna be," Rove told Brian Kilmeade on Fox News Radio's The Brian Kilmeade Show.

Rove criticized Trump's endorsements of Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, Darline Graham, the Republican Senate candidate in South Carolina, and Mike Collins, the Georgia congressman, all of whom lost. His account cuts against the president's own reading of the night. In an election-night call-in that Kilmeade played on the show, Trump said he did not "like to consider it a defeat for me."

Karl Rove on Trump's Endorsements

Rove said Trump's backing is "so powerful" in primaries that Republican voters set aside their doubts. In South Carolina, he said, "when he stepped in and said, I want Darline, despite the fact that a lot of people in the state of South Carolina said, we're concerned about our ability to mount a statewide campaign, they fell in line."

He said the Texas Senate primary "turned overnight" once Trump backed Paxton: "Republicans said, yes, sir, you told us what to do and we're gonna do it. But that is not good."

On Georgia, Rove called Collins "an admirable member of the House of Representatives, but a terrible statewide candidate," adding: "just because he wasn't Brian Kemp's choice, he became Donald Trump's choice."

"So the President's picker is not good and he did not do himself or the party a good service by stepping into all of these races," Rove said.

How Trump's 2026 Picks Fared

Rove said Trump endorsed Paxton in the Texas primary "eight to seven days before the election." Trump also backed Graham in South Carolina and Collins in Georgia. Democrats James Talarico in Texas and Jon Ossoff in Georgia won their Senate races.

Texas Republicans' Losses

He said Republicans lost every statewide office and that Texas Democrats had not won like this since 1982.

Kilmeade aired Gov. Greg Abbott's concession to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. The Texas Tribune reported that Democrat Vikki Goodwin declared victory in the lieutenant governor's race and that Clayton Tucker was poised to become the first Democratic agriculture commissioner in nearly 40 years. Talarico is the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate race since 1988.

Rove also brought up Paxton's impeachment. The Republican-led Texas House impeached Paxton in May 2023, and the state Senate acquitted him on all 16 articles that September.

Karl Rove Urges Trump to Take Responsibility

Rove said Trump should take a lesson from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who worked across party lines and acknowledged responsibility for their midterm defeats. "They acknowledged that they were responsible for the defeat. You cannot move forward unless you do what both of those men did," he said.

Rove said a Trump post had suggested Republicans would have won big if his name had been on the ballot. "Well, Mr. President, that is not what the American people wanna hear," Rove said.

Trump's election-night reaction pointed the other way. "If you're on the ballot, it's different than if you're not on the ballot," he said in the call-in. On Graham, he said, "I'm a little surprised, I thought they'd do better, actually."

On Iran, Rove said Trump "needs to explain to the American people in detail why this is important. It's not just enough to say we don't want him to have a nuclear weapon."

Trump goes into his last two years in a weak position. His approval stands at 38.3 percent in PolitiKool's polling average, and 29.7 percent approve of his handling of the economy in PolitiKool's economic approval average. Earlier in the show, Kilmeade said Associated Press exit polling found 62 percent of voters blame Trump's policies for higher prices and 71 percent say Congress must do more to check the president.

What Happens Next

Kilmeade put the Senate at 54-44 for Democrats, with Mississippi and Alaska still uncalled. Alaska's race may go to ranked-choice tabulation, and Rove said Mississippi's Republican was behind by 43 votes.

Kilmeade did not take on Rove's criticism directly. Later in the show, he rejected former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's claim that "the Trump era is over," saying simply, "I don't think so."