Ex-Trump Advisor Wants to 'Shake Him' After Hannity Town Hall

A former Donald Trump campaign adviser said he wants to "shake" Trump after his comments on Tuesday's town hall with Fox News' Sean Hannity.

During Tuesday's Iowa town hall, the former president faced questions from Hannity about whether or not he'd be a "dictator" during a potential second. Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, after deflecting the question said that he would only be a dictator on "day one" to implement some of his policies, but would not abuse his power in the White House.

Hannity asked Trump: "Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?"

"Except for day one," Trump said. "I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill," he added in reference to his vow to expand oil drilling in the U.S.

On Wednesday, David Urban, a former strategist to Trump, weighed in on Trump's comments in an interview with CNN after anchor Poppy Harlow asked, "David, the dictator comments?"

"Look, obviously, regrettable," said Urban. "If I had the president here, I would shake him and say, what the hell are you doing?"

Newsweek has reached out to Trump and Urban via email for comment.

"Donald Trump hates to have his arm twisted by Sean Hannity. Donald Trump's not going to do [admit to making a mistake]. It's not in his DNA. But yeah, he did make a mistake," Urban added.

Urban, who said he recognized the "inevitability" of Trump's victory early on during his presidential campaign, continued to explain and warn how Trump's supporters will take what the former president says seriously while his "detractors take him literally."

"I think in 2016 my friend Salena Zito had a—she coined a phrase which is widely reported used throughout the Trump campaign, and it's, Trump supporters take him, you know, seriously but not literally, right, and his detractors take him literally but not seriously. In this case, a little bit more of the same, but not helped by folks like Kash Patel and Steve Bannon, who are far worse."

Meanwhile, responding to the former president's comments, Biden's 2024 campaign team said in a statement: "Donald Trump has been telling us exactly what he will do if he's reelected and tonight he said he will be a dictator on day one. Americans should believe him."

However, Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a statement alleging President Joe Biden is a dictator.

"America already has a dictator. He is sitting in the White House. Here are the facts:"