President Donald Trump excels at finding the worst possible thing to say and the worst possible moment to say it. It has been quite a year of absurdity as the president faced off against multiple foes he couldn't defeat. Whether the coronavirus, the economy or President-elect Joe Biden, Trump managed to exceed the expectations for the preposterous to the nonsensical.
See the top 20 stupidest things Trump said in 2020 below:
1. The bribery call to Ukraine was "perfect."
2. Trump reveals in a recording he was lying about dangers of COVID-19.
"This is deadly stuff," Trump told reporter Bob Woodward in a Feb. 7 phone call for his book Rage. "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than your – you know, your, even your strenuous flus. You know, people don't realize, we lose 25,000, 30,000 people a year here. Who would ever think that, right?"
"I know. It's much forgotten," replied Woodward.
"Pretty amazing. And then I say, well, is that the same thing--" Trump said before being cut off.
"What are you able to do for –" Woodward asked being cut off.
"This is more deadly. This is five per- you know, this is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff," said Trump.
3. Injecting disinfectant and sticking a light in your body.
"Suppose that we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light," Trump said at a White House coronavirus briefing on 23 April. "Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way."
Trump later said that it was a "joke," but the video of the statement makes it clear he wasn't making a joke.
President Trump Suggests 'Injecting' Disinfectant as Coronavirus Cure | NBC New Yorkwww.youtube.com
4. Trump meant to lie to Americans about the dangers of the virus.
"I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic," Trump told Woodward.
5. The huge number of COVID-19 cases and deaths are an "honor."
"When you say that we lead in [coronavirus] cases, that's because we have more testing than anybody else," said Trump in May. "So, when we have a lot of cases, I don't look at that as a bad thing. I look at that as, in a certain respect, as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better. So I view it as a badge of honor. Really, it's a badge of honor."
6. Trump tested "positively toward the negative."
'I tested positively toward negative': Trump gives garbled answer on coronaviruswww.youtube.com
7. Trump always knew that the pandemic was a big deal.
"I've always known this is a real -- this is a pandemic. I've felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic," Trump said.
The statement came eight days after he blamed Democrats for inflating the seriousness of the coronavirus.
8. The Tulsa, Oklahoma rally is going to be HUGE.
Trump was excited to have a massive rally with a large overflow. Instead, he was owned by K-Pop fans on TikTok who signed up to the rally with no intention of attending. Only about 6,200 people attended in an arena that holds 19,000. For a president who forced his press secretary to lie about his inauguration crowd size, his campaign's massive failure became a week's worth of ridicule.
9. "Slow the testing down, please."
Trump told the Tulsa crowd that the reason there are so many cases is because the U.S. was doing too much testing. "I told my people, slow the testing down, please."
After a huge backlash, Trump aides said that he was "joking." When Trump was asked by reporters if it was a joke, he said "I don't kid." To make matters worse, Trump's team pondered ending the national emergency he declared for the coronavirus in June. More people in the U.S. have died since June 2020 than died before June.
Trump: 'I said to my people, slow the testing down, please'www.youtube.com
10. The Toothbrush Missile
President Donald Trump announced a magical "Hydrosonic Missile" that is a powerful weapon created under his leadership. The Hydrosonic is a toothbrush.
Trump Thinks ‘Hydrosonic’ is a Type of Missile | NowThiswww.youtube.com
11. "Person, woman, man, camera, TV."
President Donald Trump revealed that he had a cognitive exam where his doctor measured his memory by asking him to remember a list of words. "They said, that's amazing. How did you do that?" Trump told Fox News in an interview.
'Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.' | Morning Joe | MSNBCwww.youtube.com
12. Trump is great at walking down ramps.
"But I also, if you think about it, I went to West Point over the weekend, made a very good speech, according to everybody," Trump told Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender. "They said the speech was one of the best. The kids thought it was one of the best they'd ever heard. Stood up there for a long time saluting. Were you there?"
"No, but I watched. It looked like a really nice day," Bender said.
"Yeah. After the helicopters came over, the hats went up, the general said, 'Sir, Are you ready?' I said, 'I'm ready.' And he led me to a ramp that was long and steep and slippery. And I said, 'I got a problem because I wear, you know, the leather bottom shoes.' I can show them to you if you like. Same pair. And you know what I mean, they're slippery. I like them better than the rubber because they don't catch. So they're better for this. But they're not good for ramps. I said, General, I got a problem here. That ramp is slippery," Trump lamented.
"So I'm going to go real easy. So I did. And then the last 10 feet I ran down," he continued. "They always stop it just before I ran, they always stop it. So, I spent three hours between speeches and saluting people and they end up, all they talked about is ramp. ... If you would have seen this ramp, it was like an ice skating rink. So I'm the only one that can happen."
It hadn't rained. It hadn't snowed. The day was lovely and the ramp was dry. Trump is notorious for having problems with stairs and ramps.
13. Drinking a glass of water in 2020 was Trump's greatest achievement.
"I didn't want to get water on my tie," Trump said for the reason he struggled to drink a glass of water at the West Point Commencement ceremony.
Trump Struggles w/ Ramps & Water at West Pointwww.youtube.com
14. "When the looting starts the shooting starts."
After the brutal murder of George Floyd by police, Minnesota residents took to the streets demanding accountability. Trump made things worse, suggesting that if people appeared to be looting that they should be shot. His staff had to come out later and say that Trump didn't really mean what he said.
Twitter issues warning on Trump's tweetPhoto: Screen capture.
15. Protester shoved by police in Buffalo "could be an ANTIFA provocateur."
The 75-year-old man shoved to the ground by police during Black Lives Matter protests cracked his skull, rendered unconscious and bleeding from his ears. His name is Martin Gugino, and considers himself a nonviolent Catholic peace activist who has devoted his retirement to causes that help others.
16. Trump says he's throwing the first pitch at Yankees game
In July, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is a huge Washington Nationals fan, was offered an opportunity to throw out the first pitch at the MLB's opening day. In an apparent fit of jealousy, Trump announced he too would throw out the first ball pitch but at the Yakees' game in Aug. It was news to the Yankees who never made such an offer to the president. His staff then suddenly said he was busy that day anyway. He ultimately spent the weekend on the golf course in Bedminster.
17. Europe lives in Forest Cities
During Trump's first debate with former Vice President Joe Biden, he was asked about climate change and the massive forest fires on the west coast. The answer was... something.
"In Europe, they live—they're forest cities, they're called forest cities," Trump explained. "They maintain their forest. They manage their forest. I was with the head of a major country—it's a forest city. He said, 'Sir, we have trees that are far more, they ignite much easier than California. There shouldn't be that problem.'"
Trump previously claimed that California forest fires could be solved by raking the forest floor.
18. "Uh, Obamagate?"
When asked by Washington Post reporter Phillip Rucker about the crime Obama committed, Trump struggled to come up with the answer.
"Uh, Obamagate. It's been going on for a long time," said Trump. "It's been going on from before I even got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened, and if you look at what's gone on and if you look at now all of this information that's being released, and from what I understand that's only the beginning. Some terrible things happened and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again, and you'll be seeing what's going on over the coming weeks. And I wish you'd write honestly about it, but unfortunately you choose not to do so."
"What is the crime exactly that you're accusing him of?" Rucker asked again.
"You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours," said Trump. He still hasn't answered what the "crime" was.
19. "I'm immune!"
After recovering from the coronavirus, Trump decided he was superman.
"Now I'm better, and maybe I'm immune, I don't know," Trump said in a video upon returning to the White House from Walter Reed. It prompted a love song from CBS late-night host James Corden.
Trump: 'Maybe I'm Immune' - Paul McCartney Parodywww.youtube.com
20. Trump blames Obama for not leaving him tests for virus that didn't exist
"The last administration left us nothing. We started off with bad, broken tests, and obsolete tests," Trump said.
"You say 'broken tests' — it's a new virus, so how could the tests be broken?" CNN's Jim Acosta asked.
"We had broken tests. We had tests that were obsolete. We had tests that didn't take care of people," Trump swore. He then bashed Obama and Biden for the 2009 H1N1 flu which killed about 12,500 people.
