That a “Republican close to Ailes” said Ailes “thinks she’s an idiot.”
People use the term idiot to mean a lot of things.
Yes, there are specific definitions to it. But there are a bunch of colloquial uses as well.
I call my dog an idiot all of the time when he begs from me. I am not making a comment about his degree of IQ. It is his “thinking” that if he begs, he might just get some steak. He is an “idiot” because that will never happen off my plate.
Ailes probably used the term. But he did not mean stupid in the literal sense, but that she was either difficult, or missing an opportunity, or making mistakes, or any one of a hundred different contexts.
Jeeze...I am glad no one records every word I say.