'Beating himself': Former Trump campaign adviser says ex-president is tanking his chances

Trump's mouth is purportedly opening him up to weakness on the campaign stump.

Former President Donald Trump's former aide David Urban, appearing on CNN's "The Lead," talked about his boss falling on his face in recent off-teleprompter comments.

"The only one that beat Donald Trump in the election is Donald Trump — and he's doing a pretty good job right there," said Urban.

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The 45th president appearing at a rally in Conway, South Carolina, on Saturday bragged about dressing down an anonymous NATO leader for asking him if they would be protected from Russian aggression if they were behind with remitting their requisite 2% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) share as agreed upon in 2014.

Trump claimed: “One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’"

“I said, ‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent?’ "'No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.'"

The quotes have been roundly dismissed as reckless.

President Joe Biden, who is seeking a second White House term, criticized Trump for falling on his face with such statements.

"For God's sake, it's dumb," Biden said. "It's shameful, it's dangerous."

But Urban believes the narrator in Trump may have slipped on his own banana in this case.

"He was recounting a story by the way, that happened when he was president saying that if a NATO allies don't pay up, they're not really a part of NATO, right," he said.

He praised Trump for compelling more countries to pay their share for American military support and believes he was doing it again in this case.

For Urban, Trump was putting on "the squeeze again" and "negotiating from a position of toughness."

He also made clear it's time for the financial load to be shared.

"Americans realized that the reasons that the Germans and the French have eight-week vacations in the summer and they've got great health care and universal education for everybody is because we, the United States taxpayers have been shouldering the burden of defending the European continent for 50 years. So they should pay up."

"Putin invade whatever country you want. I think it is a little bit over the line."

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