A former Clinton adviser and frequent Fox News contributor has identified the Biden administration's "worst nightmare," and it isn't Donald Trump.

Doug Schoen told Fox News' The Story that Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) is "surging" while Trump is "sinking."

Biden's "worst nightmare"

Schoen joins a broad group of right- and left-wing pundits who say that voters repudiated Trump in the midterm elections and that DeSantis, who won a second term easily, is the Republican party's future.

Critics of Trump across the political aisle saw evidence of their claims in a widely publicized USA Today poll that showed DeSantis leading Trump by over 20 points among Republican primary voters, a reversal of most pre-election polling that showed Trump with double digit leads over his protege.

Trump would lose to Biden by seven points, the poll found, while DeSantis would beat Biden by four points.

"To put it bluntly, Trump is sinking," Schoen told Fox. "DeSantis is surging. Joe Biden's worst nightmare is Ron DeSantis."

Early in the game

While DeSantis is on the rise, it remains to be seen whether the governor is merely having a moment, with the 2024 primary a long way away.

There could be a crowded field of candidates seeking to dethrone Trump, including Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin (R).

Schoen acknowledged that DeSantis has a "long way to go" and that he remains untested on the national stage. But, he claimed, "right now, it’s fair to say that Ron DeSantis is the odds-on favorite to be the Republican nominee and potentially the next president of the United States."

Trump finished?

DeSantis announced a grand jury investigation of COVID vaccine manufacturers this week, a clear effort to outflank Trump, whose advocacy of the shots has rattled some supporters, although DeSantis has also praised the vaccines in the past.

Within days of DeSantis' vaccine initiative, Trump shared a video outlining a plan to end left-wing censorship on social media.

While DeSantis hasn't declared he is running for president, Trump is forging ahead with another White House bid under the threat of criminal prosecution by the Biden administration, an extraordinary scenario Trump has decried as a "witch hunt."

Despite the growing consensus that Biden has nothing to fear from Trump, Biden appears to remain fixated with countering Trump's every move. After Trump left some supporters taken aback with a "major announcement" that turned out to be a fundraising gimmick, the White House pounced.

"I had some MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS the last couple of weeks, too…" Biden tweeted, before rattling off some of his "achievements."