After a dramatic stock-market plunge on Monday, former President Trump and his MAGA allies quickly seized the opportunity to blame Vice President Kamala Harris, dubbing the downturn the “Kamala Crash.” However, Trump’s strategy of blaming Harris for the market drop has quickly backfired.
Trump on Monday led the charge by taking to his social media platform, Truth Social, to condemn Harris’s influence on the market.
“Of course there is a massive market downturn,” Trump proclaimed. “Kamala is even worse than Crooked Joe. 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 further amplified his point with a video combining stock market news and Harris’s praise of “Bidenomics,” branding it as “‘KAMALA KRASH.’”
Trump’s allies, including Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) and Virginia GOP Senate nominee Hung Cao, quickly joined in, attributing the downturn to Harris’s leadership. The National Republican Congressional Committee also promoted the hashtag #KamalaCrash, pairing news footage of the market decline with Harris’s positive economic statements.
However, the strategy seems to have hit a snag. Despite the initial market turmoil, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded sharply on Tuesday, rising more than 400 points. By mid-morning, the Dow had gained 433 points, or 1.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each climbed 1.7%. The unexpected recovery has abruptly silenced Trump and his allies.
This turn of events highlights a significant miscalculation on Trump’s part. In January, Trump said that he hoped there would be an economic crash “in the next 12 months” — before he would take office if he won. But the market dip has not played out as he anticipated. His attempt to capitalize on the market drop by blaming Harris has quickly fallen flat as the markets rebounded, undermining his narrative.
Harris’s campaign has focused on policies aimed at supporting the middle class, such as affordable healthcare and childcare, and dismissed Trump’s attacks as baseless. Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, countered the criticisms with a robust rebuttal:
“What middle-class families need is steady economic stewardship, not chaotic ranting lies,” Moussa stated. “Donald Trump had the worst jobs record of any modern president and oversaw some of the worst days in the stock market while enriching his wealthy friends. Economic experts agree his plans would increase costs on working families by $2,500 a year and worsen inflation.”
With the market’s sharp recovery and Trump’s strategy unraveling, the focus now shifts from the political blame game to the actual economic indicators that drive market performance, leaving Trump’s efforts to exploit the situation in the rearview mirror.
