Donald Trump drew ridicule on social media on Thursday for his on-air explanation for his latest insult aimed at Democrats.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity, during an interview with Trump amid his two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, asked the president if a foundation had been laid with China for future success.
Trump hyped up a number of potential deals, including the possibility of China buying U.S. soybeans, before pivoting to domestic politics and attacking the Democrats who opposed the recently passed farm bill, calling them “defective.”
Trump then claimed he’d “come up with a new name” for Democrats.
“I don’t know if I should…” Trump said, briefly playing coy, before Hannity jumped in: “Oh, I know which one it is.”
“Dumocrats,” said Trump, using the derogatory term that has actually been in use for a lot longer than he claimed.
Then he explained: “Because they’re dumb. They’re dumb. It’s D-U-M. I got rid of the B. So you’re only changing one letter, right? E goes, and the U comes. It’s a Dumocrat.”
Hannity, who has campaigned with Trump onstage before, followed up by fawningly suggesting the president takes up “more space in people’s heads than any one person on the face of this Earth, right? You live rent-free.”