Trump is weaponizing the stock downturn to attack Kamala Harris
Spencer Platt and Brandon Bell/Getty Images
- Trump is blaming Kamala Harris for Monday's stock market downturn.
- But he's previously sought to claim credit for a stock market rally under Biden.
- At the time, he claimed investors were anticipating that he would win the 2024 election.
As global stock markets were rocked by a steep sell-off on Monday, former President Donald Trump is using the downtown as the latest line of attack against his new Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Of course there is a massive market downturn," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday morning as part of a series of posts attacking Harris. "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!!!"
He'd repeat that last catchphrase three more times.
Monday's downturn in the US comes after a global rout began late last week, following a plunge in tech stocks and a weaker-than-expected jobs report.
Trump has long tied his political fortunes to the whims of the stock market — something presidents have little to no control over.
And it's worth noting: Harris isn't the president.
In January, when the S&P 500 reached an all time high during Joe Biden's presidency, Trump said the exact opposite and tried to take credit for the stocks' rise.
"THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET," the former president wrote on Truth Social at the time, claiming that investors were anticipating a Trump victory. "INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP."
Reached for comment, a Trump spokesperson did not address the apparent inconsistency, but touted the strength of the economy under Trump prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Investors and Americans across the country agree: the Kamalaconomy is just as bad as Bidenomics, and no one can afford another four years," said Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Harris' campaign did not immediately respond with a comment on Trump's statements.
Since Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee following Biden's decision to step aside, Trump has scrambled to develop new lines of attack against the new candidate.
So far, much of that has meant tying her to the policies of the Biden administration — though even that strategy has veered off the rails at times.
Last week, at the National Association of Black Journalists' annual conference, Trump lied about Harris's biracial background, saying that she "happened to turn Black" only recently and that she solely identified as Indian before.