Former President Donald Trump blundered massively when he suggested to Sean Hannity at his Iowa town hall that he would act as a dictator, but only on "day one" — all while refusing to clarify whether he would abuse the powers of his office when asked specifically.

That's the view of David Urban, a former strategist to Trump, who weighed in on CNN Wednesday morning.

"David, the dictator comments?" asked anchor Poppy Harlow.

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

"Sean Hannity actually almost did that on stage," exclaimed anchor Phil Mattingly.

"Donald Trump hates to have his arm twisted by Sean Hannity," said Urban. "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. 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."

"Can you talk about what Kash Patel said?" said Harlow. "He had a big role, former counterterrorism advisor on the National Security Council. Would likely have another position in the Trump administration if he wins. He says, 'We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but the media. We are coming after the people in the media who lied.'"

"It's outrageous to say those things," said Urban. "It's not unhelpful, it's outrageous. The only person that can beat Donald Trump in this race is Donald Trump, in — by saying those kinds of things. That may appeal to a certain segment of the primary electorate. But it's certainly not going to help you win voters in Macomb County or Bucks County or Montgomery County."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

David Urban condemns Trump's dictatorship commentswww.youtube.com