Trump Is Feuding With Karl Rove

Donald Trump is feuding with another high-profile Republican. In a statement released through his Save America PAC Thursday, the former president attacked political consultant Karl Rove as a "pompous fool with bad advice" who "has been losing for years, except for himself," the Independent reports. Trump blamed Rove for the defeats of two GOP senators in Georgia and urged Fox News to fire the "RINO"—which stands for "Republican In Name Only." Trump was apparently responding to a Wednesday Wall Street Journal op-ed in which Rove wrote about the "muted enthusiasm" for Trump at CPAC, criticized him for recycling his "greatest hits" in his speech instead of saying anything new, and noted that in a straw poll at the heavily pro-Trump conference, only 68% actually wanted Trump to run again.

In his statement, Trump boasted about the ratings for his CPAC speech and claimed Rove had called him on Election Night 2020 to congratulate him on a "great win." "Fox should get rid of Karl Rove and his ridiculous 'whiteboard' as soon as possible!" said Trump, who also repeated his claim that the election was "rigged." Rove fired back in a statement to Reuters, saying he has a "different recollection" of their election night conversation. "I’ve been called a lot of things in my career, but never a RINO. I've voted for every Republican presidential candidate since I turned 18 and have labored only for GOP (Republican) candidates since then," Rove said. He added: "I'll continue to use my whiteboard and voice to call balls and strikes." (Days after the election was called for Biden, Rove correctly predicted that Trump's legal challenges would fail.)