Former President Trump is calling on his supporters to withhold financial support from Karl Rove, the longtime Republican strategist who has spoken critically of the former president.
“Everyone is so tired of watching Karl Rove on Fox News,” Trump said in a statement issued through his political action committee, Save America. “He has played the game for decades, but all he and his buddies want to do is take your money and run.”
“He’s totally ineffective and does not represent the MAGA Movement in any way, shape, or form. He called me on the evening of November 3rd, Election Night, to congratulate me on my ‘great win.’ When it was revealed the election was rigged and stolen, he flew the coop.”
It wasn’t immediately clear exactly what Trump was referring to in his statement, though Rove recently organized a donor retreat in Texas that drew appearances by several potential Republican presidential contenders. Trump’s name was not among those in attendance.
It’s not the first time Trump has lashed out at Rove, however. Earlier this year, the former president blasted the veteran GOP strategist after he penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal placing blame on Trump for Republicans’ dual losses in a pair of Senate runoff elections in Georgia.
In that op-ed, Rove, a former adviser to President Georgia W. Bush, wrote that Trump’s infatuation with his own electoral loss in 2020 had overshadowed any semblance of a coherent or convincing campaign message in the Georgia runoffs.
“Mr. Trump lost those Georgia seats by making his campaign appearances there not about the need for checks and balances on the incoming Biden administration, but instead about his rage over losing the presidential election,” Rove wrote.
In response to that op-ed, Trump called on Fox News to fire Rove as a political commentator and dubbed him a “RINO” — a Republican in name only.
“Karl Rove has been losing for years, except for himself,” Trump said in a statement at the time.