WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President in recent days has dismissed and brushed aside the stock market sell-off, going so far as to say, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 really watch the stock market." That's a new message from a leader who has frequently pointed to the market's ups and downs as a reflection of himself and his activities, even when he was not in power.
Over the last year, while President Joe Biden was in office, Trump took credit for stock market rallies as a vote of confidence in his electoral prospects. When the market dipped, he blamed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. And he predicted that if Democrats won the 2024 presidential election, the stock market would have crashed.
A look at some of Trump's observations on the stock market over the last year:
鈥淭HIS 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 鈥� EVERYTHING ELSE IS TERRIBLE (WATCH THE MIDDLE EAST!), AND RECORD SETTING INFLATION HAS ALREADY TAKEN ITS TOLL. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN鈥�
鈥淗igh Interest Rates and Inflation are choking our great middle class, and ALL, our Economy is bad, and our Stock Market is rising only because Polls are strongly indicating that we will WIN the Presidential Election of 2024.鈥�
鈥淭he stock market is, in a sense, crashing. The numbers are very bad. This is Bidenomics. It鈥檚 catching up with him. It鈥檚 lucky that it鈥檚 catching up before he leaves office as opposed to after he leaves office.鈥�
鈥淭hank you to Scott Bessent, one of the Great Prognosticators on Wall Street! There are many people that are saying that the only reason the Stock Market is high is because I am leading in all of the Polls, and if I don鈥檛 win, we will have a CRASH of similar proportions to 1929. I agree, but let鈥檚 hope we don鈥檛 have to worry about that!鈥�
鈥淲e are a nation whose stock market's continued success is contingent on MAGA winning the next election.鈥�
鈥淒ow Jones UP 742 based on the fact that the Market expects a TRUMP WIN in November! Nice compliment 鈥� Thank you!鈥�
鈥淪TOCK MARKETS CRASHING. I TOLD YOU SO!!! KAMALA DOESN鈥橳 HAVE A CLUE. BIDEN IS SOUND ASLEEP. ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!鈥�
鈥淚f Harris wins this election, the result will be a Kamala economic crash, a 1929-style depression. 1929. When I win the election, we will immediately begin a brand new Trump economic boom. It鈥檒l be a boom. We鈥檙e going to turn this country around so fast. Many people say that they only reason the stock market is up is because people think I am going to win.鈥�
鈥淵ou want to see a market crash? If we lost this election, I think the market would go down the tubes.鈥�
Trump started praising Bessent and said: 鈥淵ou know what his theory is? The stock market is the only sign of life, and it鈥檚 only going up because everyone thinks Trump is going to win the election. And others, too. Others, too. I鈥檓 seeing it a lot. I think they鈥檙e following your lead. But I appreciate that confidence.鈥�
鈥淲e had three or four of the highest -- I guess, almost every single day, we set new records in the stock market. We set new records economically."
Trump, in comments directed at House Speaker Mike Johnson, then said: 鈥淢r. Speaker, I think it鈥檚 important, maybe you should pass a bill, you have to start my term from Nov. 5, OK, or Nov. 6, if you want. Nov. 5 because the market has gone through the roof. Enthusiasm has doubled.鈥�
Trump was asked by host Jim Cramer whether it's still the case that stock market indexes were a good barometer of his performance.
鈥淲ell, I think I鈥檝e always said, you know, to me, stock market is very 鈥� all of it, you know, all of it together, it鈥檚 very important. It鈥檚 an honor to be here in New York Stock Exchange. I sort of joked that I actually bought the building across the street because the stock exchange was here. It鈥檚 a big deal.鈥�
Trump was asked whether he is concerned that his tariffs might hurt the stock market.
鈥淢ake our country rich. Tariffs will make our country rich," Trump responded.
鈥淪ince my election, the stock market has set records. The S&P 500 index has broken above 6,000 points for the first time ever, never even close."
鈥淓veryone is calling it the 鈥� I don鈥檛 want to say this. It鈥檚 too braggadocious, but we鈥檒l say it anyway, the Trump effect. It鈥檚 you. You鈥檙e the effect. Since the election, the stock market has surged, and small business optimism has soared, a record 41 points to a 39-year high.鈥�
鈥淚 think the stock market is going to be great. In other words, we will rapidly grow our economy by dramatically shrinking the federal government.鈥�
鈥淲hen we turned over the reins, the stock market was higher than just previous to COVID coming in, which was an amazing achievement.鈥�
Having sparked a North American trade war and with the S&P 500 losing all of its post-election gains, Trump said in his speech to Congress: 鈥淭ariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it鈥檚 happening and it will happen rather quickly. There鈥檒l be a little disturbance, but we鈥檙e OK with that. It won't be much."
After a week of wild swings on Wall Street over uncertainty about his tariffs, Trump was asked whether he was expecting a recession in 2025. He said: 鈥淚 hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we鈥檙e doing is very big. We鈥檙e bringing wealth back to America. That鈥檚 a big thing.鈥� He added, 鈥淚t takes a little time. It takes a little time. But I think it should be great for us."
Elsewhere in the interview, when Trump was asked about the market going down: 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 really watch the stock market. ... You can鈥檛 go by that. You have to do what鈥檚 right.鈥�
When asked about his hesitation during the "Sunday Morning Futures" interview before answering the recession question, Trump said: 鈥淚 tell you what, of course you hesitate. Who knows? All I know is this: We鈥檙e going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we鈥檙e going to become so rich you鈥檙e not going to know where to spend all that money. I鈥檓 telling you, you just watch.鈥�
Trump was asked about the market after a selloff Monday and more trembling on the markets Tuesday. 鈥淢arkets are going to go up and they鈥檙e going to go down. We have to rebuild our country," he said.
In response to a question about whether his tariffs caused the turmoil in the markets, Trump said: 鈥淏iden gave us a horrible economy. He gave us horrible inflation. And I think the market was going to go very, very bad. If anything, I have a lot of very smart people, friends of mine, and great businessmen. They're not investing because of what I've done.鈥�
On whether he thinks there will be a recession: 鈥淚 don't see it at all. I think this country's going to boom. But as I said, I can do it the easy way or the hard way. The hard way to do it is exactly what I'm doing, but the results are going to be 20 times greater. Remember, Trump is always right.鈥�
Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press
