Fox News is playing with fire.
On Monday, Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto scrutinized former President Donald Trump’s recent claims about the stock market, particularly his assertion that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were to blame for this week’s market downturn. Trump’s comments came after the stock market experienced a significant drop, largely due to economic instability in Japan and concerns over a slowing U.S. job market.
Trump had previously attributed the surge in stock prices earlier this year to anticipation of his return to the White House. He now insists that the recent decline, marked by the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling roughly 1,100 points—its worst day since 2022—is a result of the Biden administration’s policies. He has even coined the term “Kamala Crash” to describe the downturn, arguing that Vice President Harris’s policies are harming the economy.
Cavuto responded critically to Trump’s narrative, highlighting the inconsistency in attributing stock market movements solely to political figures. “It’s remarkable how Trump claims credit when the market is up and blames Democrats when it’s down,” Cavuto noted. He added, “During Trump’s presidency, there were several major market drops, some due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it does bring up a valid point—market performance should not be oversimplified to just one administration’s actions.”
Trump’s recent social media post criticized Harris sharply, predicting that her influence would lead to a severe economic downturn akin to the Great Depression. He suggested that her tenure would lead to the “Great Depression of 2024,” further intensifying the partisan rhetoric surrounding the current economic climate.
In response, Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, dismissed Trump’s comments as misleading and harmful. Moussa emphasized the need for stable economic leadership rather than “chaotic ranting.” He criticized Trump’s presidency for its poor job creation record and attributed significant stock market declines to his administration’s policies. Moussa also pointed out that Trump’s proposed economic plans would increase costs for working families and exacerbate inflation.
In a quick turnaround, the Japanese Nikkei index rebounded by about 10 percent on Tuesday, recovering much of the previous day’s losses. The impact on American markets remains to be seen.