Trump: Rove is a ‘biased dope’

Donald Trump is lashing out at Republican strategist Karl Rove for criticizing the Republican presidential candidate’s performance in the last debate.

“Karl Rove is a biased dope who wrote falsely about me re: China and TPP,” Trump tweeted on Thursday, referencing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major Pacific Rim trade deal.

{mosads}“This moron wasted $430 million on political campaigns and lost 100 percent,” Trump added.

Rove wrote in an op-ed published late Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal that Trump was “the biggest loser” the in the fourth GOP debate Tuesday night in Milwaukee, saying the real estate mogul “revealed himself as full of contradiction and without depth.”

“Mr. Trump’s worst moment came when he attacked the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, saying that Chinese currency manipulation is ‘not even discussed in the almost 6,000 page agreement,’” Rove said.

“Mr. Paul did the takedown: ‘We might want to point out, China is not part of this deal.’ Laughter from the crowd,” Rove added, referencing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), another White House hopeful.

“None of this will prove fatal. But it adds to the growing perception that though The Donald offers bluster and entertainment, he lacks what it takes to be president.”

Trump also criticized the Journal Thursday for making similar arguments during a separate editorial.

“There’s so much misinformation, but you think that a paper like The Wall Street Journal would call for a clarification,” he said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

“But they don’t do that, they just write,” Trump said. “That’s why they’re not a respected paper too much anymore.”

The newspaper’s editors wrote in a Thursday editorial that “it wasn’t obvious that [Trump] has any idea what’s in [the TPP].”

The  Journal additionally took issue with Trump’s stance on China’s handling of its currency.

“The businessman thinks economic mercantilism is a political winner, but we doubt that starting a trade war that raises prices for Americans would turn out to be popular,” its editorial said.

Trump released a policy paper Tuesday detailing his strategy for handling diplomacy and trade with China. He has focused on international trade negotiations as a key part of his campaign.