President Donald Trump has a long history of saying some of the most bizarre things in politics. This year was one for the books as the president flailed, searching for excuses for his July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Here are some of the most hilariously stupid things the president has said this year:
1. Windmills cause ear cancer
“If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value,” Trump told Republicans in April. “And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one.” He then made a whirring noise mimicking a turbine.
2. He wants to buy Greenland
“In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and geopolitical importance and, according to two of the people, has asked his White House counsel to look into the idea,” the Wall Street Journal reported in August.
“Denmark essentially owns it,” Trump told reporters in the days that followed. “We’re very good allies with Denmark. We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world. … Strategically it’s interesting.”
Trump then got into a fight with Danish leaders and had to cancel a trip he’d planned to the country.
3. Trump is the “chosen one.”
During the Christmas holiday, Christians celebrate the birth of their savior. That savior does not include Donald Trump, much to his chagrin.
“The fake news, of which many of you are members, is trying to convince the public to have a recession,” Trump said. “Let’s have a recession! The United States is doing phenomenally well. But one thing I have to do is economically take on China because China has been ripping us off for many years.”
Trump then went on to say that his life would have been so much “easier” if he hadn’t gone to war with China over trade. “This isn’t my trade war,” he claimed.
“I am the chosen one. So I’m taking on China. I’m taking on China on trade. And you know what? We’re winning,” he explained.
4. “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
This year, President Donald Trump went after three American Congresswomen he perceived as foreigners because they are people of color.
5. “We can have a lot of fun tonight. I have nothing to do. Nothing. Nothing.”
Twice this year, at least, Trump bragged that as president of the United States he has nothing to do.
“We can have a lot of fun tonight. I have nothing to do. Nothing. Nothing,” he told a South Carolina crowd in July. He repeated the same comment at the Michigan Christmas rally last week.
6. “The buck stops with everybody.”
The bastardized line from former President Harry Truman was misquoted by the president in January, where he placed blame for the government shutdown on anyone but himself. The remark came after Trump told Democrats in front of the cameras that he’d “take up the mantle,” and he was “proud” to shutdown the government.
7. “USMCA — like the song, YMCA.”
“It’s fun to stay at the YMCA,” but apparently, the new-NAFTA trade deal was like the popular Village People song from the late 1970s. It’s unclear if Trump thought he could get that branding to take off, but understandably it never did.
8. Trump discovers soccer
For years, pollsters have talked about suburban women they called “soccer moms,” but apparently Trump only realized soccer was catching on in 2019. Luckily he noticed it just in time for the U.S. women’s team to win the World Cup.
“And a lot of people, including me, thought soccer would probably never make it in this country, but it really is moving forward rapidly,” Trump said.
9. That time Trump invented the word “caravan.”
“How about the word ‘caravan?’ Caravan? I think that was one of mine,” he said in February in El Paso, Texas.
10. Puerto Rico
“And I think that the people of Puerto Rico are very grateful to Donald Trump for what we’ve done for them,” Trump said at a May 8 rally in Panama City, Florida. Not 10 seconds later, he then said, “That’s Puerto Rico, and they don’t like me.”
Given 2020 is an election year, Trump will likely say even more crazy stuff. Stay tuned.