Republican strategist Karl Rove said Monday that the introduction of a third party on the right would be the “death of the conservative movement” and a “great gift” for Democrats.
Though a group called the MAGA Patriot Party National Committee officially filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, former President Trump has no affiliation and is not currently considering starting a third party himself.
Rove and co-panelist Marc Thiessen blasted the idea during a Monday afternoon segment of Fox News’ “The Story.”
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“The third party would be the death of the conservative movement and a great gift for Joe Biden and the left wing of the Democratic Party,” Rove said. “And whoever thought up that idea and floated it in the former president’s name is a political idiot.”
“If you really want to give the left go-power, go out and start a third party and name it after the last Patriot Party we had in the country was a left-wing operation that was mostly in the northwest United States,” he continued, referring to a socialist party that existed in the 60s and 70s. “Whoever was the marketing genius that came up with that name hadn’t done their history check.”
Thiessen added that President Joe Biden would never have won if democratic socialists had formed a separate party and ran against him from the left. (RELATED: Chris Wallace Chuckles At Rubio’s Answer To Question About Whether Trump Should Be Barred From Running Again)
Third parties have historically failed to make major waves in national elections, although Ross Perot’s Reform Party recorded almost 19% of the vote in 1992.