WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Monday labeled a sharp drop in the stock market “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 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!!!”
The stock market nosedive coincided with Harris, 59, on Friday reaping enough Democratic delegate votes in a virtual roll call to secure her party’s nomination — effectively completing the handoff from retiring President Biden, 81, who ended his re-election campaign July 21 after allies expressed concerns about his mental acuity.
Biden was trailing Trump in most national and swing-state polls, but Harris is faring much better in early surveys.
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 Dow surged almost 60% from Election Day 2016, when Trump unexpectedly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, and February 2020 just before the pandemic. The market ultimately recovered from the pandemic shock by the time Trump left office.
Under Biden, the value of Dow index stocks is up about a quarter — though the gains have been overshadowed by other economic woes.
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 many of the same economic policies as Biden, including expanding the social safety net and government services, including to address the cost of child care and student debt.
In another indication of continuity, one of Biden’s top White House economists, Gene Sperling, on Monday announced he was changing jobs and would now advise Harris’ campaign.
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 that doing so could increase consumer costs.