WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Monday branded a sharp drop in the stock market as “the Kamala Crash,” linking to the ascension of Vice President Harris as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“Of course there is a massive market downturn. Kamala is even worse than Crooked Joe,” Trump, 78, wrote on social media Monday morning — after the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1,000 points in morning trading after closing down more than 600 points on Friday.
“Markets will NEVER accept the Radical Left Lunatic that DESTROYED San Francisco and California, as a whole. Next move, THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF 2024! You can’t play games with MARKETS. KAMALA CRASH!!!” Trump added.
The stock market selloff is linked by economists to a weaker-than expected jobs-growth report released Friday morning, which showed 114,000 new positions added to the US economy in July – well below the expected 175,000 jobs — signaling a potential slowdown or recession.
Trump, 78, wrote in a subsequent all-caps post: “VOTERS HAVE A CHOICE — TRUMP PROSPERITY, OR THE KAMALA CRASH & GREAT DEPRESSION OF 2024, NOT TO MENTION THE PROBABILITY OF WORLD WAR lll IF THESE VERY STUPID PEOPLE REMAIN IN OFFICE. REMEMBER, TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!!!”
Trump has for decades predicted economic depressions as a result of what he’s described as poor political leadership and claimed credit for an extended period of stock-market gains throughout his term of office — though those gains were tamped down by a brief recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former president’s use of the term “Kamala Crash” comes as other conservatives use “Kamalanomics” to dismiss her economic policies and equate them with “Bidenonomics” — a term promoted by Biden’s staff that became a pejorative amid the worst inflation in more than four decades.
Consumer costs have spiked by more than 20% since Biden and Harris took office in January 2021. The Federal Reserve addressed the inflation crisis, which peaked in June 2022, by raising interest rates, boosting the cost of holding a credit card balance or buying a house.
Harris has campaigned on expanding the social safety net and expanding government services, including to address the cost of child care and student debt.
Trump has vowed to cut taxes — especially by eliminating taxes on tips — in a second term while using tariffs to boost domestic industry, though Democrats argue doing so could increase consumer costs.