“I’m not sure what he thought he was accomplishing, aside from annoying the president and lots of fellow senators,” a Republican senator said, requesting anonymity to avoid getting caught in the fray. “Also, why do it in abstract? Why not just wait till he has a concrete disagreement?”

“Everything he said is 100 percent true but the timing makes the remarks seem gratuitous,” a Republican congressman added. In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Trump dismissed the skirmish: “I think Mitt Romney hopefully will be a team player. And if not, that’s okay, too.”