Karl Rove Reveals 2025’s ‘Dangerous’ Theme: ‘We Have to Get Our Act Together’

(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

Legendary GOP operative Karl Rove outlined “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of 2025” in a new column for The Wall Street Journal in which he identified a “dangerous” prevailing theme.

“If you listed the worst years in American history, 2025 wouldn’t be near the top,” began Rove, who enumerated a number of positive developments pertaining to immigration, crime, the economy, and foreign affairs.

But he also knocked President Donald Trump, whom he said the public is “tiring” of.

“Increasingly, they may hear only the offensive or cruel things he says,” observed the Fox News contributor.

“This year, Americans were also increasingly fascinated by conspiracy theories,” noted Rove, who cited the uproar over the Jeffrey Epstein case, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s crusade against vaccines, and the rise of anti-Semitism on the Right as examples.

“It gets darker: Prominent MAGA voices are reverting to antisemitic tropes, asserting that Israel and Jews in general are running America’s foreign policy. It gets weirder: One podcaster claims that French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife is a man. Many voters rightly see all this as deranged,” he wrote before making note of intra-party divisions plaguing both Republicans and Democrats, as well as changes in the media industry.

“The prevailing theme is the public’s pervasive distrust of virtually every institution in American life. There’s almost no authority figure or august body in our society in which most people have confidence. That’s dangerous for the country,” concluded Rove. “In many ways, our nation’s public life seems overwhelming. Mutual contempt defines much of our politics. We’re confused and exhausted. We have to get our act together. How the coming year plays out will have enormous, long-lasting consequences. We all have work to do rebuilding trust and restoring civility. Because we’re Americans, I’m betting we’ll get it done. We always have. Happy New Year. Now get to it.”