Former Bush advisor Karl Rove discusses the future of Trump's presidency

In the wake of the election, Republican political analyst Karl Rove explained to students that regardless of the outcome of the election, there are several urgent structural problems within the American government that need to be addressed quickly.

On Wednesday evening, the Penn College Republicans hosted Rove, senior advisor and deputy chief of staff during the George W. Bush administration, for a discussion on the electoral triumph of 1968 Wharton graduate and President-elect Donald Trump and the implications of his presidency for the future of American politics.

The talk was attended by a large audience of Penn students and faculty of mixed political affiliations.

Wharton freshman Ben Shaker commented on the positive atmosphere of the discussion.

“I think this was very civil. People from both parties came out and created a positive mood given the current contentious situation,” he said.

Rove’s speech focused on the outcome of the election and the future of the president-elect’s term in the White House. He said that while he would gloat about the Republican win this presidential election, he could not deny “what a horrible mess politics is for both political parties.”

Rove moreover stated that his party’s unprecedented success in the House, Senate and the White House “ought to be rosy, but it’s not.”

He largely attributed Trump’s victory to the American public’s desire for change. He discounted campaign management on both sides, stating that both candidates failed to achieve the objectives of their election campaigns: Trump failed to secure the number of white voters that he had aimed to obtain, whereas Clinton failed to re-create the “Obama coalition” of millennial, minority and college-educated voters.

He stressed that Trump was not expecting a win, and implied a certain lack of preparation on the part of the president-elect. Rove, however, expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to adapt to this new level of responsibility, using his election victory speech — which he described as “pitch perfect” — as an indication of Trump’s transition to a new level of leadership.

He further expressed approval of Trump’s decision to place Mike Pence in charge of the transition of power in the White House, calling it a “smart move.”

Trump’s victory last week makes him the first Penn graduate to be elected to the White House. This win, however, was overshadowed on campus by a wave of protests and racist incidents that spread across the country.

Rove addressed a question about the recent uptick in racist acts in the United States by arguing that no blame can be placed on the outcome of the election, stating that it was a result of “something that’s been going on for the last six, seven years.”

He reminded his audience that predictions of the consequences of a Trump presidency are simply speculative. Rove further stressed that it would be important to see how the president-elect would handle his government before forming judgements on the impacts of his policies and ideas.

“But we owe him, as we owe every president, a decent interval during which we’re all behind him and wishing him the best.”