Mr Rove wrote about the “muted enthusiasm” for the ex-president in the Wall Street Journal after only 68 per cent of his supporters at CPAC said they wanted him to run again in 2024.
Now Mr Trump has blasted George W Bush’s senior adviser and branded him a “pompous fool” who has “been losing for years, except for himself.”
“Karl Rove’s voice on Fox is always negative for those who know how to win. He certainly hasn’t helped Fox in the ratings department, has he?” said Mr Trump in a 700 word statement.
“Never had much of a feeling for Karl, in that I disagreed with so many of the things he says. He’s a pompous fool with bad advice and always has an agenda.”
Mr Trump went on to blame Mr Rove for the defeat of Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the Georgia special election for the US Senate in January.
“Should have been an easy win but he and his friend Mitch blew it,” added Mr Trump.
In his Wall Street Journal criticism of Mr Trump, Mr Rove explained why he thought there was a lack of enthusiasm from the former president’s “most fervent fans.”
“The explanation may be in what the ex-president said and didn’t say in his 15-minute definition of Trumpism,” wrote Mr Rove.
“There was no forward-looking agenda, simply a recitation of his greatest hits. People like fresh material. Repetition is useful to a point, but it grows stale.”
While attacking Mr Rove, Mr Trump also found time to take a swipe at the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, which is reeling from a sex scandal.
“Karl would be much more at home at the disastrous Lincoln Project, I heard they have numerous openings!” he wrote gleefully.
And Mr Trump had a warning for Republicans over dealing with the “likes of” Mr Rove.
“If the Republican Party is going to be successful, they’re going to have to stop dealing with the likes of Karl Rove and just let him float away, or retire, like Liddle’ Bob Corker, Jeff “Flakey” Flake, and others like Toomey of Pennsylvania, who will soon follow.
“Let’s see what happens to Liz Cheney of Wyoming.”
It was the second statement of the day released by Mr Trump.
Earlier he had attacked Georgia Republican leaders and Mitch McConnell for the loss of the state’s two Senate seats, which effectively handed control of the high chamber over to the Democrats.
Then he turned his anger on Mr McConnell, who recently voted to acquit Mr Trump at the end of his historic second impeachment trial in the Senate – but then delivered a stunning rebuke of the former president saying there was no doubt he bore responsibility for the insurrection.
“Second, Senator Mitch McConnell’s refusal to go above $600 per person on the stimulus check payments when the two Democrat opponents were touting $2,000 per person in ad after ad,” wrote Mr Trump.
“This latter point was used against our Senators and the $2,000 will be approved anyway by the Democrats who bought the Georgia election — and McConnell let them do it!
“Even more stupidly, the (NRSC) spent millions of dollars on ineffective TV ads starring Mitch McConnell, the most unpopular politician in the country, who only won in Kentucky because President Trump endorsed him. He would have lost badly without this endorsement.”
