President Donald Trump faced a wave of ridicule after a sit-down interviewer asked whether he could kick one of his favorite habits.
In an interview airing Sunday on "60 Minutes," correspondent Ross Douthat asked Trump whether he could go six months without insulting Democrats if that's what it took to get a deal done. Trump insisted he could do it "very easily."
The question came after Trump brought up Senator-elect James Talarico and said Talarico had signaled on Fox News that he wanted to work with him on immigration. Douthat pointed out that Trump had occasionally mocked Talarico with the nickname "TalaFREAKo" during the campaign.
"Yeah, I did," Trump replied.
Asked whether he could work with Democrats without constantly insulting them, Trump said, "Yeah, I could," before adding that he also calls many of them "dumbocrats." Douthat noted Trump had done so only days earlier.
The network's preview clip set off a pile-on from commentators across the political spectrum.
Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor who now serves as editor-in-chief of the MeidasTouch Network, said he rarely laughs at Trump clips but couldn't believe what he was seeing on "60 Minutes."
"Trump has never sounded more weak and pathetic," he added.
David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, wasn't buying Trump's answer.
"I'll take that bet," Corn posted.
Matt Lewis, a conservative columnist and author of "Too Dumb to Fail," put Trump's odds far lower.
"Six months? He can't go six minutes," Lewis wrote.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan, who has interviewed Trump several times, landed in the same spot, predicting Trump would last about "six minutes before the President lapsed."
John Sailer, a conservative writer, imagined a patient waking from a 12-year coma only to find the same exchange playing on a hospital TV, capped by Trump declaring that he also calls many Democrats "dumbocrats."
Justin Hart, a conservative commentator and founder of Rational Ground, likened the interview to parenting.
"This is the same conversation I have with my 5-year-old every day about getting along with her sisters," Hart quipped.