Karl Rove has advice for Trump: "‘I would show up (to the debate) if I were him"

The first Republican debate is scheduled for August 23, and Donald Trump, the current leader of the Republican polls, has not yet confirmed his presence. While Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (NRC), is hopeful that the former president will appear in Milwaukee, the odds are not in her favor. So far, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum have qualified for the first debate among the GOP candidates.

Karl Rove, a famous Republican strategist who captured national attention during the George W. Bush administration, commented on the long-awaited debate. A senior adviser to the president and deputy chief of staff until August 2007, he spoke to Fox News and gave some advice to the former president.

While acknowledging the dangers to which Trump would be exposed by getting on stage: offering an opportunity for his rivals to climb in the polls and jeopardizing his comfortable leadership, the former consultant said it would also be an important moment to reaffirm his leadership within the Republican Party.

"But I'd show up if I were him because this is where you get to demonstrate, 'I am the leader, and I will remain the leader.' If he doesn't show up, there's gonna be people who will say to themselves, 'Well, didn't he tell us, didn't he mock Joe Biden for not debating and hasn't he said he's the world's greatest debater?'"

Rove named Chris Christie as the candidate that Trump should be most wary of, given that his presence on stage will have only one goal: to attack him until he stumbles. In addition, he divided his competitors in two, between those who will seek to attack him harshly and those who will try to "move around him."

Another reason he mentioned to justify the presence of the tycoon in the debate was his collection of indictments. With the Fulton County case in Georgia, Trump has been seen several times walking into a courthouse for an arraignment, an image that, of course, is not desirable for a presidential candidate.

Therefore, the Republican believes that the former president could help renew his image in the heads of potential voters, especially moderate Republicans and independents.

"Depending on what poll you look at, a plurality or a majority of Republicans who say that if he's convicted of something in one of these federal suits, one of these four lawsuits, four indictments, excuse me, that they're not going to vote for him. So he has to find a way to assuage those growing concerns. And the best way to do that is to show up on August 23 and September 27," Rove said in closing.