Trump's Dan Quayle-potato moment on Fox News is proof 'he's slipping': ex-GOP operative

President Donald Trump's recent Fox News tangent on the spelling of the word "dumb" is being called his Dan Quayle potato moment by former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt, who said it's a sign the president's "slipping" before the country's eyes.

Speaking on his YouTube channel Monday, Schmidt drew the comparison to former Vice President Dan Quayle's infamous 1992 spelling fumble, when Quayle told a student there was an "E" on the end of "potato."

Now, Schmidt argued, Trump has echoed that embarrassment by lecturing Americans on the letter at the end of "dumb."

"Take the B off, because most people don't know that, you know, dumb ends with a B, but most people don't know that," Trump told daughter-in-law Laura Trump during a Fox News interview. "And all I do is I switch the E with a U, and you have a Dumocrat."

Trump explained he came up with the nickname "by watching Hakeem Jeffries because he's a dumb person."

Critics piled on online, with one X user writing that Trump was "legitimately proud of knowing how to spell that word." Another posted: "You can tell he definitely just learned this."

Schmidt argued the bizarre tangent reflects a deeper failure Fox News can't paper over. With Trump's approval cratering and his coalition fracturing, Schmidt said no amount of softball interviews from Laura Trump can mask the reality voters are living.

"Let's just say, the Donald, he's slipping," Schmidt said. "Even all the propaganda in the world can't cover up that fact."