In August 2020, author Terry Silverman released the book "1000 Dumbest Things Donald Trump Has Said and Done." Clearly, Silverman was not a fan – and offered the thought, "It is still a mystery how we allowed such a sociopath to become President of the greatest country on earth."

With all due respect to Silverman, what critics of former President Donald Trump fail to accept (or perhaps even realize) is that he was duly elected by the will of the American people.

Trump won the 2016 presidential election, even as there will be those that will continue to bemoan that he lost the popular vote.

This fails to accept the fact that Trump won by the rules in place.

Yet, for four years, some refused to accept Trump as a legitimate president and worked feverishly to take him down.

Of course, Trump has made also some dumb choices over the years in the White House. Here would be the top contenders.

Number Five – He Ran For President

Technically, this dumb decision is what led him to the Oval Office, but the question must be asked whether Trump ever really wanted to be president in the first place. Michael Moore is among those who had suggested that Trump was actually unhappy with his deal as host and star of his NBC reality series "The Apprentice," and it was about money.

To get the attention he felt he deserved, he decided to run for president.

Number Four – He Relied Too Much on Social Media

Donald Trump wasn't the first politician to use Twitter, but he has shown to have an addiction to the microblogging platform.

While social media has proven to be a powerful tool to have one's voice heard, too often users post things they later regret. Trump likely regrets few (if any) of his tweets, while his use of the platform to share his every opinion only showed a lack of discipline from the leader of the free world! 

Yet, the fact remains Trump once used Twitter to great effect, but after he entered into politics the platform took hold of him and made him a far less effective leader.

Number Three – Trump Withheld Military Aid to Ukraine, Triggering First Impeachment

Even before Donald Trump took office, there were Democrats who were looking at ways to impeach him. There were numerous investigations, but nothing stuck – largely because Trump didn't actually do anything impeachable. 

Then he attempted to influence Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by withholding military aid, in order for Kyiv to investigate Trump's political opponent Joe Biden and to promote a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind the interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump played right into the Democrat’s hands.

Number Two – He Downplayed the Covid-19 Pandemic

There will be those Americans who believe that the Covid-19 pandemic was a "nothing event" that was overhyped by the media to bring down Trump; just are there are those who believe that more Americans died unnecessarily because of his handling of the pandemic. 

It is also unlikely any president would have faced a serious challenge in dealing with the coronavirus. However, it should be remembered that in January 2020, Trump publicly downplayed the fears of the pandemic. He said then "We have it totally under control," and even praised China's handling. By March, the United States had the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. 

Number One – Trump Continues to Claim The 2020 Election Was Stolen

Last year, at CNN's Presidential Town Hall, Trump continued to suggest the 2020 election was stolen, telling host Kaitlan Collins, "That was a rigged election."

After she then pressed the matter, Trump added, "If you look at True the Vote, they found millions of votes on camera, on government cameras, where they were stuffing ballot boxes."

There remains no evidence of a "stolen election," and certainly not millions of votes stuffed into ballot boxes. Trump lost largely because it was about voting against him rather than for Joe Biden – a fact, our current president should remember (but likely fails to appreciate). Yet, Trump’s lies and failure to accept the loss led to the January 6 Capitol riot – a dark stain on the history of the United States.

A Final Thought – Trump is Dumb to do What Others Shouldn’t Have Done

Now in fairness to Trump, he is hardly the first politician to claim an election was stolen. Many Democrats simply failed to accept the outcome of the 2000 election, and Trump was labeled an illegitimate president – much as George W. Bush had been 16 years earlier. In fact, Hillary Clinton spent four years coming up with increasingly nonsensical excuses that tried to suggest it wasn't that she was an unlikeable candidate or ran a bad campaign. 

Yet, Trump has taken election denial to a new level. Even supporters of Trump should admit that's not good for democracy. It is beyond stupid for him to continue to do so, but maybe that’s because Trump is the kind of guy who clearly believes he is always the smartest person in the room even if these examples prove otherwise.

Author Experience and Expertise

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.

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