Trump said the only reason the stock market is doing well right now is because of his performance in the polls
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- Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the stock market is doing well at the moment.
- The only reason, he said, is because he's leading Biden in polls.
- If he loses in 2024, he said "I think the stock market would crash."
Republican former President Donald Trump said he believes the only reason the stock market's performing well is because of his success in the polls.
Trump made the claim Wednesday night at a town hall-style media event in Iowa hosted by Fox News, which was scheduled at the same time as CNN's Republican presidential debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
At the town hall, Fox News host Bret Baier brought up a recent comment from Trump about the stock market. "When there's a crash — I hope it's gonna be during this next 12 months because I don't want to be Herbert Hoover," Trump said in an interview earlier this week.
In response to Baier's question, Trump said he's not hoping for a crash, he just thinks "the economy is horrible except the stock market's going up."
The former president noted he believes the only reason for the stock market's health at the moment is because of his lead in the polls when he's pitted against the likely 2024 Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden.
"But I would say this, we have a situation which I believe the stock market goes up because I'm leading," he said. "I think if I wasn't leading, the stock market would be 25% lower. And I think frankly, if I didn't win, I think the stock market would crash, I believe."
While there's little to support Trump's claims about the stock market, a MarketWatch report from December 2023 notes that at nearly 3 years in office, the S&P 500 index rose nearly 17 percentage points more under Trump than Biden.
During his presidency, Trump often bragged about the stock market's performance. Days after losing to Biden in the 2020 election, he gave a one-minute news conference almost solely about the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
"The stock market's just broken 30,000. Never been broken, that number. That's a sacred number: 30,000. Nobody thought they'd ever see it," Trump said at the time.
The impromptu appearance stunned reporters at the White House.
"Well, that was weird as shit," an unseen reporter was recorded saying after Trump left the press room.