shoot oneself in the foot

present singular third person shoots oneself in the foot · participle present shooting oneself in the foot · participle past shot oneself in the foot · past shot oneself in the foot

1. idiomaticTo act against one's own interests; to unintentionally behave self-destructively.

   The countries that stopped shooting themselves in the foot were able to break into new export markets

   2007, Paul Collier, The bottom billion: why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it, page 85

   4 more examples

   but as President he frequently shoots himself in the foot. Some of his erroneous public statements are dillies.

   1982 April, “Reagan shoots from the lip”, in Black Enterprise, volume 12, number 9, page 16

   "I've always been the guy who shoots himself in the foot and squanders every opportunity," he says. "Now it's like, 'Do I throw it all away — or just try?'"

   2009 August, SPIN, volume 25, number 8, page 62

   The fear is that the economic aftermath of this crisis, like the virus itself, might be toughest on those with pre-existing conditions – including otherwise thriving western countries choosing this moment in history to shoot themselves in the foot.

   2020 April 9, Gaby Hinsliff, “We used to moan about normal life, now our fear is we'll never get it back”, in The Guardian

   Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor who is of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, told the Guardian that Trump "may have shot himself in the foot" with the comments. "Criminal intent can be hard to prove, but when a potential defendant says something easily seen as intimidating or threatening to those investigating the case it becomes easier," Aftergut said.

   2022 February 7, Peter Stone, “Trump's incendiary Texas speech may have deepened his legal troubles, experts say”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2022

   Synonyms: dig one's own grave, foul one's own nest