Former President Donald Trump tried to break through the Democratic convention coverage with another rambling speech on the economy that was carried live on Fox News, C-SPAN 2 and briefly on CNN.
However, Fox News cut away from the comments, where former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove explained that it was a hodgepodge of off-the-cuff lines from his rally speeches to supporters.
Host Martha MacCallum said Trump would appear every day this week to provide counter-programming for the Democratic convention.
Read also: How Trump's new gibberish speeches are alienating swing voters
Rove agreed it was smart to visit such a critical state but let out a frustrated sigh and said there needs to be a more disciplined message than what Trump delivered.
"I've been through this twice," Rove said, citing his 2000 and 2004 campaigns. "And you want to go to these places, and you want to have a simple message that the media has to cover. Instead, he gives them a giant smörgåsbord. Some of it is apparently written into his speech draft. But apparently some of it is just ad hoc."
Rove said that the media "gets to pick and choose" what they cover, "and who thinks that the dominant media in this country is going to pick the thing that is the best productive for him at getting votes?"
Rove expected the media to pick up on his attacks on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"In order to force the media to cover your message, you need to be disciplined, focused, and short, and then they've got no option except to report to the people of Pennsylvania or people of Arizona whatever it is you want to have," Rove explained.
"You give them something big and outlandish and, you know, claims about this or that. The dominant media is going pick out something that's not going to be helpful to him. And the local media may or may not get it right," he closed.
See the clip below or at the link here.
