Karl Rove Canceled? Trump Calls On Fox To Ditch 'Pompous Fool'

Conservative strategist Karl Rove is the latest establishment Republican to attract Trump’s ire, highlighting the growing tension between traditional Republicans and the alt-right. A Wall Street Journal op-ed by Rove criticized Trump’s CPAC speech, leading the former president to call on Fox to “get rid of Karl Rove.”

Rove’s piece noted that while Trump was still popular among Republicans, barely over half wanted him to run again in 2024. He touched on the decidedly mixed results of Trump’s influence in down-ballot races and accusing the president of dividing the party.

“After urging Republican unity to beat Democrats in 2022, the former president then spent five minutes urging the defeat of 10 Republican representatives and seven Republican senators who voted to impeach or convict him,” Rove wrote. “Supporters want him to offer a forward-looking vision, but he won’t.”

Trump’s counterattack came quickly, Forbes reports.

“He’s a pompous fool with bad advice and always has an agenda,” Trump said in a statement. “Karl Rove has been losing for years...he’s a RINO [Republican in name only] of the highest order.”

Trump also blamed the GOP’s losses in Georgia’s Senate elections on Rove, accusing him of sabotaging conservative candidates with “bad ads and concepts.”

The fight instantly shot Rove’s name up Twitter’s trending list, with users mostly making jokes or attacking Trump for hypocrisy around “cancel culture.”

The episode is just the latest spat between the Republican party’s two main wings, traditional Republicans and Donald Trump’s populist alt-right. The divide has been growing since Trump lost the presidency, with establishment figures pushing the party to move on and Trump loyalists firing back with his still-high approval ratings among conservatives.

CPAC proved to be a flashpoint in the conflict, with figures like Nikki Haley snubbed in favor of a solidly pro-Trump narrative. Haley’s widely speculated presidential ambitions have been stunted since she criticized Trump's reaction to the Jan. 6 riots, with Trump declining to even speak with her.