Fox News’s Tucker Carlson faced an increasingly agitated Karl Rove on Tuesday night when he asked the former senior adviser to George W. Bush why Rove had failed to predict Donald Trump’s stunning election victory this month.
Rove, who consistently predicted bad electoral news for Trump, wasn’t anxious to discuss the issue on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and immediately started talking about how “a lot of smart people” had predicted that a Trump win would spike the financial markets.
Carlson brought Rove back on track. “My question and I think it’s a really significant one — is why did nobody call any of this ahead of time and I am including you in this, why did nobody see this coming?” Carlson asked. “Have you taken a moment to ask yourself with all the data in the world at my disposal was I unable to see this?”
Rove refused to answer immediately, saying instead that Carlson was “one of a handful of people” who predicted the outcome.
After reminding Rove that Carlson was “not talking about me, I’m talking about you,” Rove shot back, “If you want to keep going, fine; but I’ll be happy to answer the question.”
Rove said he failed to guess that Trump would win in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan but was correct otherwise. He said he took his “hat off” to Trump for winning Wisconsin because “Republicans like me have tried to win” the state for years.
Carlson reminded Rove that, “You told me on election night that it was Paul Ryan that put him over the top.”
Rove then claimed that Ryan and “a million dollars” from the state Republican Party helped win Wisconsin for Trump.
“Nobody thinks Paul Ryan got him Wisconsin,” said Carlson.
Nobody perhaps except Rove, who reiterated his claim at the end of the interview.
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