Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson pressed network contributor Karl Rove on why he and others in his field incorrectly called the outcome of the presidential election earlier this month.
“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 offered a number of theories, including why the stock market had not reacted as some thought it might to the election of Trump. In addition to that, Rove said he saw Trump winning Iowa early on. However, he said he did not see him winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin and he credited Trump’s Wisconsin win to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
However, Carlson seemed to reject Rove’s theory.
Partial transcript as follows:
CARLSON: You’re telling me on election night that it was Paul Ryan that brought him across the line in Wisconsin?
ROVE: Let me explain that —
CARLSON: It’s a hard sell.
ROVE: A month out from the election, the Wisconsin Republican Party was short of money for their get out the vote operation. They went to the RNC which said we can’t fund it. They went to the Trump campaign who said we’re not going to be there. Paul Ryan wrote the million dollar check to the Wisconsin Republican Party.
Final week of the campaign he decides what he’s going to do is get on a bus with Ron Johnson and the two of them are going to cover the state in order to pump for vote on a straight Republican ticket from Donald Trump to Ron Johnson to Republicans up and down the ballot. His adviser said, no, you’re the Speaker of the House. You’re supposed to be traveling around the country, encouraging people to vote for Republican House members. He said you know what, my job was to raise the money, now I need help with my state.
CARLSON: Nobody is buying this. Nobody thinks … I like Paul Ryan. Nobody thinks Paul Ryan got him Wisconsin. I think it’s pretty —
ROVE: Oh, I disagree. I think he helped a lot.
CARLSON: OK. Well we disagree. Thanks for doing that. I appreciate it.
ROVE: You bet.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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