Karl Rove accused Republican Donald Trump of narcissism Wednesday, blasting the Republican presidential front-runner for demanding an apology from Hillary Clinton.
Discussing Trump’s suggestion that Clinton should apologize for claiming the Islamic State had used him in recruiting videos, Rove said, “He made it all about him. He made it into, sort of narcissistically said she owes me an apology for insulting me, and not telling the truth about me.”
Speaking on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Rove added, “Well, he doesn’t tell the truth about a lot of people all the time, and feels no compulsion to apologize for that. So keep it on the substance, don’t make it personal.”
In the third Democratic presidential debate on Dec. 19, Clinton said Trump “is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.”
Asked if Clinton would apologize, spokesman Brian Fallon replied on Monday, “Hell no.” However, the campaign has tried to walk the comment back, with spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri telling ABC’s “This Week” that the Democratic front-runner “didn’t have a particular video in mind.”
Rove insisted Trump made a mistake by demanding the apology, saying, “He had her on the ropes … He let her out of the corner by making it about his ego rather than about the substance of the issue.
“If he had said, you know what, by god, she just doesn’t get it about the threat we face abroad, and here’s what I’m going to do,” Rove added. “Or if he had said, you know what, I remember well when she was saying it was the video, and now we know she was even telling her own daughter it wasn’t the video, she lied about the video,” he said, referencing the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.
“Instead he made this all about, ‘You need to apologize to me because you’ve insulted me.’ That just doesn’t fly with this guy. He’s insulted too many people,” Rove concluded.
Why does @FoxNews give @KarlRove so much airtime. He (and other Fox pundits) is so biased. Still thinks Romney won. Unfair coverage of Trump
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2015
Trump blasted Rove, and Fox News, on Twitter later in the day. “Why does Fox News give Karl Rove so much airtime,” Trump said. “He (and other Fox pundits) is so biased… Unfair coverage of Trump.”
The comments are the latest in a long-running feud between Rove, who served as a senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, and this year’s top Republican presidential contender. Rove penned a column earlier this month calling Trump the Democrats’ “dream nominee,” while Trump replied that Rove was “going crazy” over his performance in the polls.
