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Republican strategist Karl Rove says Democrats only have themselves to blame for their ongoing struggle to organize themselves, even in the face of a Republican Party that has failed to deliver on its big promises.

Rove said even as President Trump struggles with a low job approval rating, Democrats are dividing themselves, in some cases by insisting on unpopular positions.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Rove noted that West Virginia Gov. Jim Jordan switched to the Republican Party last week after saying Democrats "walked away from me."

He noted that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp was forced to vote in favor of a methane regulation that her state's industry opposed because of pressure from "left-wing advocates."

"Progressive intolerance was also evident last month after the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Ben Ray Lujn, announced the committee would fund pro-life Democratic House candidates," Rove wrote.

But after Lujn announced that, left-wing groups criticized him, and led to dissent from Howard Dean, the party's former chairman.

Rove said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has pressured Democrats to back a single payer healthcare system or lose support from his supporters during the 2016 campaign.

"This trend points to a broader problem for Democrats: their lack of a credible, unifying, positive message," Rove wrote.

"That leaves Democrats with a platform that entirely consists of furious resistance to President Trump," Rove wrote. "Yet their message of obstructionism has been wholly ineffective so far."

Rove said Democrats should be focusing on ways to appeal to middle America, but said he doubts that will happen because "out-of-touch ideologues and radicals have such an iron grip on the party."

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Karl Rove: 'Progressive intolerance' preventing a Democrat comeback - Washington Examiner