Trump Calls Karl Rove a “Stone Cold Loser,” Presses Fox News and WSJ

Trump attacks veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove as bad for the Republican Party and questions why Fox News and The Wall Street Journal keep his voice on the air.

First Published: September 14, 2026, 7:51 PM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump escalated a long-running feud with Karl Rove, the veteran GOP strategist who served as senior advisor to President George W. Bush, branding him a “stone cold loser.”

Trump said Rove is “so bad for the Republican Party” and questioned why Fox News and The Wall Street Journal keep his voice alive. He framed the strategist as a persistent internal critic he has beaten for nearly a decade. Trump wrote that Rove suffers from “a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The post landed as Rove faced fresh scrutiny for signaling a break with his party at the ballot box.

Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Karl Rove is so bad for the Republican Party, and completely wrong so often. He suffers from a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome primarily because, for almost 10 years, I beat back and won against so many of the people and things that he wanted and espoused. Why does Fox News and the The Wall Street Journal keep his RINO Voice alive. The guy is a stone cold loser!” on September 14, 2026 at 7:43 PM ET.

This is Trump’s 14th message released today, and the last post was 2 hours ago, and it is not part of a thread. On average, Trump produces 18 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 67 of his 575 posts over the last 30 days classified as Domestic Policy posts.

The attack followed reports that Rove told a Headliners Club lunch in Austin he would vote for the Democrat running for the Texas Railroad Commission, his first vote for a Democrat since 1994, according to mediaite. Rove said he would back Jon Rosenthal, a Houston Democrat, after Republican Bo French posted racist comments about South Asian students at the University of Texas at Austin, according to mediaite. Rove called French a “bigot” and said he could not support him, according to mediaite.

Rove holds outsized standing inside the party Trump now leads. He was “The Architect” of Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns and served as senior advisor from 2000 to 2007, according to aspenideas. He also served as deputy chief of staff from 2004 to 2007 and founded the American Crossroads super PAC, according to aspenideas.

The clash is not new. Trump demanded in June 2026 that Fox News“get rid of sloppy RINO Karl Rove” after the strategist discussed the president’s unfavorability on the network, according to Yahoo! News. Rove had said the president’s unfavorability was at 40% while the Democratic Party’s was below 37%, according to United Kingdom.news.yahoo. Trump then wrote that Rove had called him and MAGA wrong “for 11 years,” according to uk.news.yahoo.

Rove has also warned that his party could pay a price at the polls. He wrote in a The Wall Street Journal column that the administration was making mistakes that could produce a “nasty 2026 midterm defeat,” according to The Independent. Rove said Trump’s comments about the deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife were met with “universal horror and revulsion” and that the president’s “grotesqueries have to stop,” according to independent.co.United Kingdom.

Rove has not announced any change to his contributor roles at Fox News or The Wall Street Journal, and neither outlet has said it will act on Trump’s demand.