In public, Republican strategist Karl Rove has slammed the party’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump as “a complete idiot” with a “divisive and graceless” style, but the two recently had a sit-down meeting in Manhattan, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Rove and Trump met two weeks ago at the home of casino tycoon Steve Wynn, a mutual friend who brokered the meeting, according to the Times, who spoke with two anonymous individuals briefed on the meeting.
Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski only said it was a “good meeting,” but the reason for the get-together was not clear. But the Times noted if the two met to broker a ceasefire, the peace didn’t hold, with Rove being deeply critical of Trump’s attacks on the media in a press conference earlier this week.
The sit-down came as Trump mounted efforts to court party elites not yet won over by his broad populist appeal.
Rove’s early criticism of Trump’s candidacy hasn’t gone unanswered, with the billionaire responding to call the ex-top George W. Bush aide “dishonorable” and suggesting he’s “the dumbest human being on earth.”
