After President Donald Trump declared that former President Joe Biden is to blame for for current stock market performance—saying "this is Biden's stock market, not Trump's" in a rant on Truth Social—people quickly fact-checked him for previously taking credit for the stock market when Biden was in office.
A preliminary estimate shows the U.S. economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of Trump’s second term, a sharp contrast to the 2.4% GDP growth recorded during Joe Biden’s final quarter in office.
Economists warn the decline could signal a looming recession, especially as Trump presses forward with aggressive tariffs that risk driving up prices, stalling growth, and increasing unemployment. Despite the downturn occurring under his leadership, Trump declined to accept even "one tiny, itsy-bitsy" bit of responsibility in a post on Truth Social ahead of the market’s open.
He wrote:
"This is Biden's Stock Market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden 'Overhang.'"
"This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!"
But compare those words to what Trump wrote in January 2024, when Biden was very much in office:
"THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP – EVERYTHING ELSE IS TERRIBLE (WATCH THE MIDDLE EAST!), AND RECORD SETTING INFLATION HAS ALREADY TAKEN ITS TOLL."
"MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
You can see Trump's posts below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump was defensive when questioned by a reporter about not taking credit for the stock market now that it is "not doing so well":
"I'm not taking credit or discredit for the stock market, I'm just saying that we inherited a mess both at the borders and you can look at any one of the people here and no matter who it is they're doing better and are far superior to what took place for four years before us."
"When you look at prisoners being allowed to come into our country at will, people from mental institutions, gang members, drug dealers. ... When you look at that and also what happened with finance, what happened with inflation, we've had the worst inflation probably in the history of our country."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Many have called out Trump in response.
When Biden was in office, Trump infamously said he hoped the stock market would crash "in the next 12 months" because he doesn't want "to be Herbert Hoover," aiming to distance himself from the responsibility of managing a troubled economy:
"When does it crash? I hope it's gonna be during these next 12 months because I don't wanna be Herbert Hoover. The one president I just don’t want to be, Herbert Hoover.”
Trump stands as the sole modern president who, upon concluding his first term, oversaw a decrease in U.S. jobs compared to the start of his presidency.
The global COVID-19 pandemic, which Trump belatedly acknowledged and frequently downplayed or denied during its progression, wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy in his final year in office. The robust job market he anticipated to secure him a second term was obliterated.
In January 2021, just before the conclusion of Trump's term, the Labor Department disclosed that total U.S. employment had plummeted by 140,000 in December, resulting in a total of 142.6 million jobs—approximately 10 million fewer than pre-pandemic levels.
Trump's macabre hopes for the stock market had earlier triggered a strong response from Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who condemned his comments as "insensitive and grotesque" and expressed disbelief at Trump's apparent lack of understanding of the impact such a crash would have on American working families.
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